Argyll and Bute harnesses wave power

LIMPET principle - click for full size image and desription

Progress may be slow for wave power, but so it was with wind power – before it developed to the stage where anyone out to make a quick green buck under the name of renewable energy could plant wind turbines across the land, and ruin the view and lives of those beneath them, until the planning process finally caught up with them.

Maybe the same will be true of wave, and other hydro-power systems, but at least they don’t eat up vast areas of land, or have so many apparently unforeseen negative side effects. Wind power still provides the greatest laugh though – doesn’t work when there’s no wind, and doesn’t work if there’s too much wind. I’m not biased though, and I’m sure there will be similar surprises in store with wave power, maybe, once there are enough installations in place.

Islay is the most recent site to have a wave power installation commissioned, and the turbine was turned on today by Scottish Energy Minister and local MSP Jim Mather.

This is the first of the UK’s commercial wave power stations, and is planned to be followed by a 40 turbine installation off Siader on Lewis in the Western Isles. When completed, this will provided a breakwater to benefit the community, and power for some 1,500 homes (and apparently not cover some vast tract of land, spoil the view, produce weird noises to disturb the residents, interfere with aviation, or swat birds out of the air).

The system has been developed by Wavegen and uses a device called the LIMPET, installed at Islay. This uses an oscillating water column to move air in and out of a chamber, and rotate a specially designed turbine which converts the airflow into electricity – the turbine rotates in the same direction regardless of the airflow direction. The turbine has been installed and was developed with support from the Scottish Government’s Wave and Tidal Energy Support (Wates) scheme.