Aquamarine Power CEO Martin McAdam with Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond
Several green energy startups have attempted to harness tidal power from ocean waves to generate clean electricity and the latest entrant to try to harness electricity from 100 billion tons of water per day in the Bay of Fundy is Aquamarine Power. Aquamarine Power, based in Scotland, which has based its wave power designs on the oyster, has installed the equivalent of 64 GW wavepower technology and is achieving great results as evidenced by the large number of published and peer-reviewed papers on the subject.
How the Aquamarine Wave Power System Works
The Aquamarine Power Oyster system creates a pumping system using huge “paddles” or “shells” that swing back and forth in the waves and pump water to onshore turbines that spin and produce electricity (see video below).
According to Aquamarine’s team of engineers, coming up with an efficient technology involves a combination of finding optimum sites to install the technology and refining the design through an endless series of testing periods. With each new installation and each new upgrade, Aquamarine’s wave power system is producing better and better results.
An illustration showing how the Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor pumps water to its offshore power generator (Click Image To Enlarge)
The reason for harnessing wave power isn’t hard to understand as the world is mostly filled with oceans. The need for sustainable energy resources makes wave power, using nearshore waves to convert wave energy to drive hydroelectric turbines, a thing of beauty.
The following video shows the Aquamarine Wave Power system in action:
The following gallery shows Aquamarine’s Oyster system:
An Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Converter being frabricated at Aquamarine's plant (Click Image To Enlarge)
An Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor being tested off the coast of Scotland (Click Image To Enlarge)
Artist concept of an Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor farm viewed from beneath the waves (Click Image To Enlarge)
Close-up underwater view of the Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor (Click Image To Enlarge)
Aquamarine Power's proposed Lewis wave farm (Click Image To Enlarge)
COMMENTARY: Aquamarine Power got its start in 2001 when Professor Trevor Whittaker's research and development team at Queen's University, Belfast began to research flap-type wave power devices with a view to reducing the cost of energy. The R&D team's research ultimately led to the development of the Oyster wave energy device.
The innovative design of the Oyster wave energy converter attracted the interest of Allan Thomson, the retired founder of WaveGen, the UK's first ever wave power company. Allan went on to co-fund further R&D into the Oyster wave power device. In 2005, Allan set up Aquamarine Power to bring Oyster wave power technology to the commercial market.
Securing investment
In 2007, Aquamarine Power secured an investment of £6.3 million from major utility SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) plus further investment of £1.5 million from venture capitalist Sigma Capital Group. This gave the company the financial backing and additional industry expertise it needed to progress their Oyster wave energy technology from scale model wave tank testing to full-scale sea trials.
In 2008 Aquamarine Power completed the fabrication of our first full-scale prototype Oyster wave energy converter and in 2009 it installed Oyster 1 at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney when it began producing power to the grid for the first time.
Continual progress
The following year, in November 2010, Aquamarine Power welcomed ABB, one of the world's largest power and automation companies, as a major shareholder in the business.
In 2011 the company installed its next-generation Oyster 800 wave energy device at EMEC. This device is undergoing operational testing and is producing electrical power.
Oyster 800 has now demonstrated at EMEC for over three years - including surviving some of the largest stroms this decade. The company's team of engineers and researchers are already developing the next versions of its Oyster devices, while its commercial team is progressing with a portfolio of development sites where it can install and operate future Oyster wave farms.
Courtesy of an article dated June 23, 2015 appearing in Industry Tap
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