World’s Largest Working Hydro-Electric Wave Energy Device Launched

[Ichingcarpenter]

Known as Oyster, the device has been officially launched by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond MP, MSP at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

It is currently the world's only hydro-electric wave energy device producing power and is now producing power by pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine. This will be fed into the National Grid to power homes in Orkney and beyond. A farm of 20 Oysters would provide enough energy to power 9,000 three bedroom family homes.

The marine energy industry could provide as many as 12,500 jobs, contributing £2.5 billion to the UK economy by 2020. Marine energy such as that produced by Oyster has the potential to meet up to 20 per cent of the UK's energy demands.




http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091127133806.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

[joshcryer]

1. That's a novel design, the ones I have been familiar with are the "snakes."

I like it. Perhaps it would benefit from a piston that turns a very very high ratio gear, rather than losing so much of the potential energy to pumping water to another generator.

[kristopher]

2. K&R

[pscot]

3. Very interesting way

of going at the problem. Any idea of the costs involved? That edition of Science Daily seems to be devoted almost entirely to wave generating technology. It looks like some of these projects might actually deliver.

[kristopher]

4. About 2 years ago...

There was a general consensus that wave/current/tidal systems would start making contributions in about 10 years. The devices on the drawing boards were not controversial in their basic premise and little more than routine design challenges stood between those drawing boards and delivering power.

Since water has a high energy density an a great deal of reliability and since the devices are generally not complex engineering, it is expected that the power will be highly affordable.

[pscot]

5. That gadget the Scots have developed

is simplicity itself. This seems imminently more practical than beaming electrons down from the outer edges of the atmosphere, for example..

[kristopher]

6. I agree.

However there is the issue of geography to consider.

*If* space based power systems ever prove affordable, there are definitely applications. However I wouldn't want any research funds put into that until after we've fully converted to a renewable grid. If they develop it in the private sector with no special help then more power to us all.

[kristopher]

7. You might be interested in this unpublished paper

There is a good discussion of the use of ocean currents (not waves) as a source of energy.

http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/Windpower/docs/PimentaRabeEtAl2005-MAST667-FINAL-V12.pdf.

[pscot]

8. That page is gone

I believe there are some problems with using currents to generate power. Water depth and deep sea maintainance, seasonal variability, and in the case of turbines, the fact that anything moving with the current is likely to be sucked into the machine. Precluding damage to marine creatures has got to be central to the design of any such device. We've done enough damage out there already. The project the Scots are working on seems to mostly avoid those issues.

[kristopher]

9. Odd, I downloaded it just before I posted the link.

I'd read it some time ago, but had lost my copy. Here is another link to it I found that seems to work; at least it started to download when I clicked.
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/windpower/docs/PimentaRabeEtAl2005-MAST667-FINAL-V12.pdf

Found it at this site; which isn't bad itself.
http://www.bbcat.org/OceanCurrentPPaper_000.htm

I understand your concern about issues with marine organisms. I'm only passingly familiar with some of the concepts, but from what I do know I wouldn't worry much if I were you. Remember that these are not externally powered propellers cutting through the water, they are deriving their power from the current and, as I understand it, the flow patterns are such that there is little danger for smaller critters, while larger ones are, if necessary, easily excluded using a large mesh screen. At least, such a screen wouldn't be too large to
build nor would it reduce energy extracted by any significant amount.

These aren't on the scale of wind turbines, you know (even though they build on the knowledge base developed for wind). They are expected to be on the order of 10 meters across. That size is arrived at as a compromise between capturing the benefits of enlarged scale while still keeping the units small enough that they can be pulled to the surface for routine maintenance and repairs.

[pscot]

11. Beyond a rather vague general awareness

I don't know what impact this line of inquiry might have. Long term, it should certainly be looked at, but we have a pressing need for immediate results. While we need to be ope to different approaches, I believe money should be concentrated where it will do the most good. We need to quit burning carbon yesterday. Thanks for the new links.

[kristopher]

12. This is considered near term technology that is extremely viable.

There isn't anything new except the desire to apply known technologies to a new application. Saying "we need to quit burning carbon yesterday" glosses over the process. Since the basic technologies are essentially off-the-shelf, and since the development efforts don't require large sums, it is mostly a privately funded line of inquiry.

I (and others) expect this to be a significant contributor to solving the problem worldwide since most of global population is concentrated along the water.

[garybeck]

10. They should call this Lunar power, not Wave power :)

very cool!