Part of a series on |
Renewable energy |
---|
The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter was a technology that used the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The machine was made up of connected sections which flex and bend as waves pass; it is this motion which is used to generate electricity.
Developed by the now defunct [1] Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power (formerly Ocean Power Delivery), the Pelamis became the first offshore wave machine to generate electricity into the grid, when it was first connected to the UK grid in 2004. [2] Pelamis Wave Power then went on to build and test five additional Pelamis machines: three first-generation P1 machines, which were tested in a farm off the coast of Portugal in 2009, and two second-generation machines, the Pelamis P2, were tested off Orkney between 2010 and 2014. The company went into administration in November 2014, with the intellectual property transferred to the Scottish Government body Wave Energy Scotland. [3]
The Pelamis machine is an offshore wave energy converter, operating in water depths greater than 50m. The machine consists of a series of semi-submerged cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. As waves pass along the length of the machine, the sections move relative to one another. The wave-induced motion of the sections is resisted by hydraulic cylinders which pump high pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing hydraulic accumulators. The hydraulic motors drive electrical generators to produce electricity. Electricity from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected and linked to shore through a single seabed cable.
The Pelamis is an attenuating wave energy converter. The machine responds to the curvature of the waves (their shape) rather than the wave height. As waves can only reach a certain curvature before naturally breaking, this limits the range of motion through which the machine must move but maintains large motion at the joints in small waves.
The P2 Pelamis design was Pelamis Wave Power's second generation Pelamis machine. The Pelamis P2 is 180m long, 4m diameter and approximately 1350 tonnes in weight. Consisting of five tube sections and four flexible joints, the design is longer and fatter than the previous P1 design.
In 2010, Pelamis Wave Power began tests of the first Pelamis P2 machine at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, Scotland. The machine was owned by the German utility company, E.ON, and was the UK's first commercial supply contract in the marine energy sector. [4] In March 2010 Pelamis Wave Power announced a second order for a P2 machine, from ScottishPower Renewables, part of Iberdrola Renovables. [5] This second machine was first installed at EMEC in May 2012. [6] The two utility companies announced that they will work together to share and collaborate in testing of the P2 Pelamis technology. [7]
Following the demise of the company, the P2-001 device was acquired by Wave Energy Scotland, having completed over 15,000 hours of operation. The device was decommissioned in April 2016 and sold to the Orkney Island Council for £1. The other device, P2-002 was sold to the European Marine Energy Centre for use as a test rig. [8]
E.ON and ScottishPower Renewables announced plans to build larger projects using Pelamis machines in the waters off Orkney's west coast. [9] Both companies won leases in 2010 from The Crown Estate, who own the seabed around the UK, for projects of up to 50 MW. The "Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Leasing Round" was the world's first commercial scale wave and tidal energy leasing opportunity. [10]
Pelamis Wave Power tested their first full-scale prototype at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland between 2004 and 2007. The machine, which was rated at 750 kW, was the world's first offshore wave power machine to generate electricity into the grid system.
The prototype was 120 metres (390 ft) long and 3.5 metres (11 ft) in diameter. It had four tube sections coupled by three power conversion modules. [11]
In 2008 Pelamis tested three first generation, P1 Pelamis waves at the Aguçadoura Wave Farm. Located off the northwest coast of Portugal near Póvoa de Varzim, the farm had an installed capacity of 2.25 MW and was the world's first multiple machine wave power project. [12] The project was part funded by Portuguese utility Enersis, [13] at the time owned by Australian global investment company Babcock & Brown. [14] The farm first generated electricity in July 2008 but was taken offline in November 2008 at the same time as Babcock & Brown encountered financial difficulties. [15]
Pelamis platurus is a yellow-bellied sea snake that lives in tropical and subtropical waters. It prefers shallow inshore waters.
The Hailong (Dragon) 1 is a Chinese wave energy machine reported to be a near perfect copy of the Pelamis which began testing in 2015 in the South China Sea. It was reported to have been based on IP stolen from Pelamis during a 2011 heist. [16]
July 2023 the Orkney Island Council sought tenders for the disposal of the Pelamis 2 "Orkney Islands Council (OIC) invite you to submit a proposal to take ownership and remove and dispose of the wave energy converter known as “Pelamis” P2. The “Pelamis” is a Wave Energy Converter which was utilised to capture wave energy from the sea in the waters off the sea in Orkney. It became redundant and came into the possession of OIC in 2017. It has been laid up at moorings off Lyness Wharf, Hoy, Orkney.
Upon an agreed date which shall be within 7 days of signing acceptance to the agreement the Contractor shall take ownership of Pelamis, and the responsibility for the upkeep, maintenance and security of the “Pelamis” will become the Contractors responsibility. The Contractor will be required to have relevant and appropriate insurances in place at the time of change of ownership.
The contractor shall have the option to remove the Pelamis by sea to dismantle or dispose of the Pelamis at a regulated and certified recycling facility or to dismantle the Pelamis at Lyness Wharf and remove the components by road or by suitable marine transport and dispose of them at a regulated and certified recycling facility.
Should the Contractor wish to re-use the Pelamis for some other purpose this should be explained in full detail including the method of preservation, security and protection of the environment.
Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC).
Renewable energy plays an important and growing role in the energy system of the European Union. The Europe 2020 strategy included a target of reaching 20% of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020, and at least 32% by 2030. The EU27 reached 22.1% in 2020, up from 9.6% in 2004, but declined to 21.8% in 2021. These figures are based on energy use in all its forms across all three main sectors, the heating and cooling sector, the electricity sector, and the transport sector.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
Renewable energy in Portugal was the source for 25.7% of total energy consumption in 2013. In 2014, 27% of Portugal's energy needs were supplied by renewable sources. In 2016, 28% of final energy consumption in Portugal came from renewable sources.
The Wave Hub is a floating offshore wind and wave power research project. The project is developed approximately 10 miles (16 km) off Hayle, on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hub was installed on the seabed in September 2010, and is a 'socket' sitting on the seabed for wave energy converters to be plugged into. It will have connections to it from arrays of up to four kinds of wave energy converter. A cable from the hub to main land will take electrical power from the devices to the electric grid. The total capacity of the hub will be 20 MWe. The estimated cost of the project is £28 million.
Wind power is a major source of electricity in Portugal. At the end of 2020, wind power capacity in Continental Portugal was 5,456 MW. In 2020, wind power represented 23.7% of total electricity generation.
Renewable energy in the United Kingdom contributes to production for electricity, heat, and transport.
The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was a wave farm located 5 km (3 mi) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Porto in Portugal. The farm was designed to use three Pelamis Wave Energy Converters to convert the motion of the ocean surface waves into electricity, totalling to 2.25 MW in total installed capacity. The farm was officially opened on 23 September 2008, by the Portuguese Minister of Economy. The wave farm was shut down two months after the official opening in November 2008.
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd is a UKAS accredited test and research center focused on wave and tidal power development, based in the Orkney Islands, UK. The centre provides developers with the opportunity to test full-scale grid-connected prototype devices in wave and tidal conditions.
Pelamis Wave Power designed and manufactured the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter – a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The company was established in 1998 and had offices and fabrication facilities in Leith Docks, Edinburgh, Scotland. It went into administration in November 2014.
The Oyster is a hydro-electric wave energy device that uses the motion of ocean waves to generate electricity. It is made up of a Power Connector Frame (PCF), which is bolted to the seabed, and a Power Capture Unit (PCU). The PCU is a hinged buoyant flap that moves back and forth with movement of the waves. The movement of the flap drives two hydraulic pistons that feed high-pressured water to an onshore hydro-electric turbine, which drives a generator to make electricity. Oyster was stationed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) at its Billia Croo site in Orkney, Scotland until the company ceased trading in 2015.
Marine energy or marine power refers to the energy carried by ocean waves, tides, salinity, and ocean temperature differences. The movement of water in the world's oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy, or energy in motion. Some of this energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport and industries.
Aquamarine Power was a wave energy company, founded in 2005 to commercialise the Oyster wave energy converter, a device to capture energy from near-shore waves. The company's head offices were in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company ceased to trade on 20 November 2015.
A tidal stream generator, often referred to as a tidal energy converter (TEC), is a machine that extracts energy from moving masses of water, in particular tides, although the term is often used in reference to machines designed to extract energy from run of river or tidal estuarine sites. Certain types of these machines function very much like underwater wind turbines, and are thus often referred to as tidal turbines. They were first conceived in the 1970s during the oil crisis.
The Aegir wave farm was a planned wave farm off the south west of Shetland. The project was developed by Aegir Wave Power, a 2009 formed joint venture of Vattenfall and the wave power technology developer Pelamis Wave Power. The wave farm would have had capacity from 10 MW potentially up to 100 MW. Following the collapse of Pelamis in November 2014, the project was cancelled by Vattenfall in February 2015.
The Saltire Prize, named after the flag of Scotland, was the national award for advances in the commercial development of marine energy.
Richard Yemm is the British inventor of the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter and was director of the former Pelamis Wave Power, a company he founded in Edinburgh in 1998. In 2014 he co-founded a new company, Quoceant, who are engineering consultants specializing in marine energy and technology innovation.
The Ocean Grazer is a conceptual energy collection platform, projected to house several renewable energy generation modules, including wave energy, solar energy and wind energy. The development of the Ocean Grazer platform has been carried out by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.