Pelamis Wave Power
Pelamis Wave Power designs and manufactures 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.
History
The company was founded in 1998 by Richard Yemm, Chris Retzler and David Pizer with the aim of commercialising the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter. Originally named 'Ocean Power Delivery', the company changed its name in September 2007.
In 2004 the company installed and tested their first full-scale prototype at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland, becoming the first commercial scale, offshore, wave power machine to successfully generate electricity into the national grid. A commercial order for three 750 kW machines followed this successful demonstration of the Pelamis technology, resulting in the installation of three Pelamis Wave Energy Converters in 2008, the Aguçadoura Wave Farm. Located off the northwest coast of Portugal near Póvoa de Varzim the project was funded by Portuguese utility Enersis, at the time were owned by Australian global investment company Babcock & Brown. 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.
Wave power
'Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs). A machine able to exploit wave power is generally known as a wave energy converter (WEC).
Wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave-power generation is not currently a widely employed commercial technology, although there have been attempts to use it since at least 1890. In 2008, the first experimental wave farm was opened in Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park.
Physical concepts
Waves are generated by wind passing over the surface of the sea. As long as the waves propagate slower than the wind speed just above the waves, there is an energy transfer from the wind to the waves. Both air pressure differences between the upwind and the lee side of a wave crest, as well as friction on the water surface by the wind, making the water to go into the shear stress causes the growth of the waves.
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