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AN IRISH COMPANY is behind the world’s largest wave farm in the United Kingdom.
And it firmly believes it’s going to be commercial viable.
Simply Blue Energy, founded in Ireland four years ago, is joining forces with Wave Hub, who have provided the infrastructure for the project off the coast of Cornwall at a cost of a roughly £30 million.
A contract was signed last week to give the green light to the project.
How the technology works is relatively simple – a buoy sits on surface of the water with a cable running to a generator sitting on the seabed. As the waves move the buoy up and down, the cable pulls a magnet up and down within the generator.
The company’s chief operations officer, Hugh Kelly, told TheJournal.ie that the company is anxious to bring a similar project home to Ireland, but they decided to jump at the opportunity to install generators in a location where the infrastructure were already there.
“We’re absolutely confident that it will be commercially viable,” he said.
It uses well-established principles, and the technology has been quietly developing over the past few years.
Simply Blue has looked to Scandinavia for influence on this project. Seabased Industry is currently deploying dozens of these Wave Energy Converters in a farm off the east coast of Sweden. After delays due to bad weather, 21 were installed over the course of two days earlier this month.
Kelly stressed that compared to other forms of wave power, the devices are simple to install, and quick to bring back to the surface is there is an issue.
Kelly said the devices generally grouped together in bunches of 40, with a combined capacity of 2MW.
Simply Blue’s website reads that the capacity factor – or how much of this electricity will actually be produced – will be 50%.
It has previously be estimated that a capacity factor of 30-40% is needed for wave power to be viable.
And the environmental impact? Kelly said that some studies have shown it be positive, saying there are “no nasty chemicals” involved, and that fish often use the generators as a shelter.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland estimates that Ireland has a ‘wave energy resource’ of as much as 525Twh, compared to the roughly 30Twh needed in Ireland per year.
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We’d all be millionaires if we could harvest our wave energy off our Atlantic coast.
Ha ha, no we wouldnt. A manufactured national situation would appear and our politicians would say they would have to sell it and we’d get 30% of its true value as the consultants they hired (that we paid for) would also be working for the company that we’d be selling to.
Then that 30% would be given to the IMF to go towards the 9,000 million in annual interest on the loans forced on us.
I happened to be on the Wikipedia page for the One World Trade Center a while ago and read that the generator they have in the tower generates something like 5MW of power, yet these devices produce only 2MW with a 50% capacity factor.. so 1MW. The entire sea floor would have to be covered with these things to make them in any way viable for a country, no?
The location in Cornwall will only be used for testing purposes rather than commercial power generation. The capacity of the site once it is in full testing will likely exceed 30mw.
True in theory Baz.
Although this is Ireland, so no doubt, any investment would have to be kept ‘off balance sheet’ (only bank debts are allowed ‘on balance sheet’ after all), so it would be privatised. As a result on the select crony few would be millionaires. No doubt some ingenuous way would be imagined for the rest of us to ‘contribute’.
Why would we be – if you invested in the companies or the tech and they made money then your quids in – in the future if wave power makes a fortune the goverment may charge for licences or sea and foreshore rights- but that’s a long way off -
Mark, the government already has a charge for foreshore licenses- This is for exploration and items such as pre development studies. Then there is a Foreshore Lease. The lease does not cost a large amount of money. More money is required for cost of submitting the information required this would be the technical and environmental information. This lease would allow under conditions the holder to mine, drill, farm or harness ocean energy, wind energy off the shore. The government recently had a drive for licenses for companies to explore oil and gas. In regards Wave Energy if a industry and supply line was created the studies have detailed how this would benefit the nation economically. It is still a long way off though but with some good research and a push to develop it.
I think that’s great news as part of a mixed renewable energy supply . Ireland really need to start having that debate and stop thinking inland windmills are the only option .
A windmill grinds corn
You’d often wonder if hydro power stations can work why a ‘wave’ station off the Atlantic Coast wouldn’t work equally as well. NB I’m not an engineer, hence I’m only wondering!
Hydro energy from rivers etc. provides a fairly constant source of potential energy were the wave energy provides more of a fluctuating supply of potential energy, swells etc. This is why it is more difficult to harness wave energy. Also rivers are inland and easier to build on.
Marine environments are notoriously difficult to design, operate and maintain any sort of machinery in reliably. You have to plan for it to survive a 1 in 50 year storm, which in all likelihood would obliterate an oil well. Many materials are ruled out because of corrosion, marine growth clogs up any moving parts. Onsite inspection and maintenance is either impossible or exorbitantly expensive. The whole thing is a bloody nightmare. It’ll always cost more than land based generation, but eventually the paybacks could be greater.
Joseph, offshore oil platforms are a strong breed. Not a single North Sea platform has been toppled by the elements and there have been some fierce storms in the Northern NS, including at least one that was classed as “just about 1 in 100 years” intensity. So, no, oil and gas platforms would be fine but I’m not so sure about these little guys. I could imagine some severe damage in either Atlantic or Northern NS.
That’s not strictly true. Oil platforms are constantly being maintained by the workers and after large storms platforms can and have been left inoperative for months while they undergo repairs (topple not necessary). If an automated oil platform were left at sea, it would stop functioning surprisingly quickly storm or no storm, and this is the real challenge that new technology has to overcome.
Survivability would be an issue alright. Generally machines have a “safe mode”, in wind this is called high speed shut off, which would disengage the generation in predicted storms. I am not aware of the specifics of this device though. The foundation being on the seabed doesn’t get exposed to the full strength of a wave as its potential decreases the move you go from the surface to the seabed.
Joseph, we’re on the same page. These marine environments are extremely harsh and maintenance costs are incredible. Without such maintenance these magnificent structures would pretty soon become just so much steel and concrete. Amongst the wonders of the age but, mainly, little regarded.
I’m not sure if it’s viable using the Atlantic. I think it works better off a powerful current rather than a strong wave. Strong waves cab be destructive increasing maintenance cost. And where they have it in Cornwall has the strongest currents in the world
Steven, they are installed under the water, below the waves. The wave and current would assist generation.
Shame the golf stream doesn’t run off the coast of Ireland then . Oh wait …
There’s wave and tidal, tidal is primarily on the seabed with no interaction with the surface whereas this uses the waves motion to move the magnet to induce the current so it’s no using the tides at all.
Is that golf stream responsible for all the majors we’ve been winning;)) Harrington must’ve been swimming in it
What has golf got to do with it
You’re right Steven, wave energy is a lot more expensive on maintenance and on capital costs also tidal is a more constant stream of potential energy and they can be positioned closer to shore. Can’t understand the drive for wave energy. Obviously I assume I don’t know all the facts and whoever is pumping 30 million knows more than me. Best of luck to them.
Tá na Lochlannaigh chun cinn – arís. Tuige an bhfuil muid chomh mall sin i gcónaí. Ar ndóigh tá siadsan bródúil as a dtír is a dteanga féin. : )
I imagined a wave farm to be a very lonely place until I thought – you can wave hello as well as goodbye. Not so affected now.
Would like if this worked but I’d imagine a rough Atlantic would swat these out of the way
Well done to that company. I’ve been keeping up with developments in wave energy which has long seemed the way to go – particularly in light of the general opposition to wind turbines in the communities where companies seek to site them. Surely this is the kind of infrastructure project this government should be supporting. Perhaps none of ‘the buddies ‘ have shares in wave generation companies.
It all depends on the type of generators used. The pictures above show generators run from wave power not tidal currents. You can get both. Wave power off the coast of Ireland is abundant. Although I don’t know if there’s an upper limit for them when there’s a storm?
Great stuff. Ireland has a huge capacity for renewable energy. But, the only form of renewable energy that is totally predictable is tidal.
The biggest problem hampering renewable energy at present is the energy can’t be stored. If a cost-effective, efficient energy storage method can be developed, it would spur the growth of all forms of renewables.
I’d opt for Tidal. Very predictable. You wouldn’t need to store the power generated, any more than you do from a traditional or nuclear plant. You just need sophisticated switching controls to keep the demand/supply in balance, as is done at present…although there are a few pumped storage facilities.
If the political will were there, it would happen. But is it?
Joesph that’s true on the predictability of tidal. Yet there is a limited availability of high energy sites for tidal in the Republic, over 2m/s current. Northern Ireland has more development potential and the political will was there and it has been installed in a small scale. The electricity grid is operated as an All island grid in Ireland. Some large tidal farms are planned in NI and in Scotland but the commercial nature of the industry and technology is not quite there.
Need more wind power here. After the last few days we’ve had enough to power the world
Thought provoking .
Hold on folks, the sun is shining,whats going on ?
Certainly sounds more reliable,productive and less environmentally damaging then useless wind farms
have your say