Vattenfall recently presented plans for the first wave power plant outside the Shetland Is-lands in the eastern Atlantic. The project could achieve installed capacity up to 20 MW as early as 2014, and it can be expanded to produce many times over that capacity.

Vattenfall and Pelamis Wave Power, the Edinburgh technology developer, launched this joint-venture to develop the first wave power project off the Shetland Islands. The venture, called Aegir Wave Power Ltd, was announced  the same day that Vattenfall’s new office in Edinburgh, and the first in Scotland, was officially opened by the First Minister, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP, MSP.

“The wave power plant on the Shetland Islands is one part of Vattenfall’s objective to produce pure elec-tricity that does not burden our climate or our environment. The ocean west of Shetland has very close to ideal conditions that will enable us to extract energy from the waves effectively,” says Ulf Tisell who is the manager of Vattenfall Ocean Energy Program.

Pelamis’ wave power technology will first be used outside the Shetland Islands. It will be built on 150-180 metre long floating “tubes” that move with the waves. Generators between the different sections of the “tubes” transform the movements to electricity. Other technologies can be used in the area at a later phase.

If the requisite planning consents are granted, and the planned Shetland-Scotland sub-sea cable is con-structed within the estimated time period, Vattenfall is hoping to have installed up to 20 MW through the project as early as 2014. 20 MW would provide electricity for app. 9000 households for a year. However, there is potential to expand and achieve much greater capacity, which makes it one of the largest wave power plants on the drawing board in Europe at present.

About Pelamis Wave Power Ltd:

Pelamis Wave Power Ltd is one of the leading wave power technology companies in the world. The com-pany was the first to connect electricity from a wave power plant to the British electricity network. In 2008, it became the first company in the world to put a functioning wave power farm into operation.

Source Vattenfall

Popularity: 2% [?]