Wind Prospect - Ocean Prospect

Press Release

South West Wave Hub is given go-ahead by Government
17 September 2007

Ocean Prospect and E.ON announce wave energy partnership

WestWave flyer (Nov 07) (PDF)

With an eye to the future, Wind Prospect Group believes that marine energy will become an important part of the future mix of renewable energies. It has therefore established Ocean Prospect, a new venture to undertake the development of marine renewable energy projects.

It has been estimated that marine renewables could meet 15 to 20% of current UK electricity demand, the bulk of that contributed by wave power.

With a view to exploiting this valuable resource, Ocean Prospect is committed to developing the WestWave project in partnership with E.ON, the UK’s largest integrated energy company.

WestWave is a proposed wave energy generating project, consisting of several Pelamis P750 machines, manufactured by Pelamis Wave Power (previously Ocean Power Delivery). The array will connect to the South West Regional Development Agency’s Wave Hub.

The 5.25MW project will supply electricity for approximately 3,000 homes and prevent around 11,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

Pelamis modules awaiting final assembly

Wave Hub

In order to encourage the development of wave energy technology in the region, the South West Regional Development Agency is planning to construct a ‘Wave Hub’ off the north Cornwall coast. It will be located approximately 10 nautical miles off St Ives, where there is a water depth of approximately 50 metres. The Wave Hub would provide infrastructure for up to four developers to install wave energy generators on this site. It would comprise an offshore connection point and transformers, a cable running to shore and a connection to the National Grid via a substation at Hayle.

A planning application for the Wave Hub was submitted in June 2006 and deployment is currently expected in 2008.

The WestWave project has been granted a place on Wave Hub and would be connected soon after its completion.

Proposed location of Wave Hub

More details of Wave Hub can be found at www.wavehub.co.uk

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Pelamis in action during Sea trials:

Pelamis
The Pelamis is one of the world’s most advanced offshore wave energy converters. Developed by Pelamis Wave power it is a semi-submerged, articulated structure composed of four long cylindrical sections linked together at hinged joints by Power Conversion Modules, each housing a power generation system. The wave–induced motion at each joint is resisted by two pairs of hydraulic rams, each pair acting on one of two perpendicular axes. These circuits pump high-pressure fluid through hydraulic motors via storage accumulators to smooth out the pressure waves. The motors are directly linked to asynchronous generators producing a 3-phase voltage. The entire device is approximately 150metres long and 3.5metres in diameter.

Simplified illustration of how Pelamis works

In August 2004 the first full-scale pre-production prototype was deployed by OPD at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and underwent extensive testing.

In summer 2006, three Pelamis wave energy converters were shipped to Portugal for the initial phase of the world’s first commercial wave farm.

Pelamis prototype during sea-trials

For further information about Pelamis Wave Power (previously Ocean Power Delivery) and Pelamis can be found at www.oceanpd.com.

Contact

To contact Ocean Prospect, please email info@oceanprospect.com, or contact us on the details at the bottom of this page.



	Wind Prospect Ltd., 7 Berkeley Square, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1HG t: +44 (0)117 925 7798 f: +44 (0)117 945 2493 e: info@windprospect.com