Wave Power: Energy Buoy to Lead to Wavefarm?
BBC News reports that a pioneering project to harness wave power off the coast of north Cornwall, England is being monitored by scientists around the world.
A state-of-the-art energy buoy is being launched 12 miles off St Ives by the Renewable Energy Agency for the South West (Regen SW) on Friday.
The $132,000 buoy will record wave activity and measure wave power.
Regen SW has been awarded $368,000 from the npower Juice fund, which supports renewable energy technologies.
The project is designed to speed up the installation of one the world's first wavefarms, which could be in place within three years off the north Cornwall coast.
The area is being investigated by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) as a possible site for the creation of a Wave Hub.
This would act as an offshore electrical "socket" connected to the national grid by an underwater cable.
The Wave Hub would be the UK's first large-scale wave energy project, allowing manufacturers to carry out tests before going ahead with the development of commercial projects.
The British government wants the UK to be producing 10% of its energy needs from renewable resources by 2010.
Full Text of BBC Article on Wave Power Buoy
Labels: cornwall, energy policy, uk, wave energy, wave power
posted by James at 6:01 am
6 Comments:
What about an underwater water wheel?
Find a nice deep underwater canyon with a good 3knot current & block it with a giant water fan?
Has anybody thought of this?
ahhh crap
Could your giant water fan just be a large water fan ? And maybe not be under water. but be on top of the water?
not too bad at all.
try it on one of the million narrow passages close to Alaska and BC (Canada) coast.
5 to 12 kn of tide all year long, pretty huge energy to get oot
this is really interesting.
wave power is being opposed by Democrats in the US
see
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080608/NEWS/806080338
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