The world's first sea-driven electricity generator is launched
EXACTLY 16 months after the UK
government stopped aiding research
into wave power on the grounds that it
had no commercial future, the world's
first wave-powered electricity generator
has been launched off the shore of
Scotland.
Promising mass production of
power at a wondrously cheap rate, the
new electricity generator named
Osprey, is designed to exploit both wind
and wave energy at the same time (New
Scientist, Vol 147, No 1988).
Its radical design involves a huge
steel structure that can produce 2 mw of
electricity from big surf waves and
another 1.5 mw from a wind turbine
positioned on top of it.
The sea off the coast of Scotland is
legendary in its ferocity. In view of the
violent waves which could make a mess
of machinery, the generator has an
advantage over its prototypes: it has
only one moving part, the turbine, and
this is protected both against salt and
the power of the waves. Past experience
had it that machines with too many
moving parts were often battered into submission.
A wind turbine was
added to the Osprey design
much after the initial blue-
print had been drawn up
when engineers found that
the wind off the sea had
much greater velocity and
power than' inland wind.
Implanted in the sea bed
about 350 metres from
shore, this 20 in tall pilot
plant sits in 14 in of water.
As the waves rise and fall
in the machine's chamber,
forcing air out and in
through the turbines, electricity is generated and is
transmitted to a grid via a
submarine cable. However,
the flow of the electricity
from the plant will be intermittent as in other renewable energy
sources, and in July when the sea is
comparatively calm the generator may
not produce any power at all.
It has been estimated that over the
years the machine will produce energy
equivalent to a 600 - kilowatt generator.
In addition, the engineers are optimistic
that the machine could be scaled up to
generate 8 megawatts. Moreover,
Osprey is believed to be cost-effective as
it will produce power for 6 pence per
kilowatt-hour "that will eventually
come down to 4 pence," says Allan
Thomson of Applied Research and
Technology, the Inverness Company
that developed the Osprey.
Initially aimed to power desalination plants, Osprey could also supply
electricity to isolated areas and islands
that have no access to cheap power.
With f,4 million gone into its development, funded by the European Union
and a consortium of 6 British and
French Companies, Ospreys success in
providing renewable energy on a large
scale, is likely to herald a new era in
wave power research.
So While the generator was towed to
the north of Scotland, dropped onto the
seabed and plugged into the grid at
Dounreay, Thomson emphatically
declared, "I would like to think that we
h4ve done enough to convince the
(13,ritisb) government to think again and
givle the wave industry the support it deserves."
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