Wave energy promises self-sufficiency for remote island The world's biggest and first commercially viable wave-energy power collector, Limpet, funded partly by the European Commission under the Joule programme of the Fourth Framework Programme is in the final stages of commissioning, and about to begin operating. The machine grid c... The world's biggest and first commercially viable wave-energy power collector, Limpet, funded partly by the European Commission under the Joule programme of the Fourth Framework Programme is in the final stages of commissioning, and about to begin operating. The machine grid can now accept power. Limpet (land installed marine powered energy transformer) was launched in late 1998 on the island of Islay, an Inner Hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland. The machine has been built by a consortium, led by the Inverness-based renewable energy specialist Wavegen, with partners from Northern Ireland and Portugal. These latest advances follow the development of a pilot plant in Islay, which was installed in 1990 and decommissioned early in 1999. The machine is designed to operate right on the shoreline, generating 0.5 MW of power for local or island communities, thus playing a crucial part in enabling Islay to release itself from reliability on fossil fuels, and ultimately become self-sufficient in renewable energy. Electricity supplies are not always reliable in this remote area of Scotland, making Limpet extremely welcome amongst the local community. Recent fuel protests in Britain have also highlighted the need to become less dependent on oil. 'The island community have been very supportive', Wavegen's business development manager, David Langston told CORDIS. The construction of the plant and the subsequent media interest has provided income for local hotels and related businesses, on an island where the unemployment rate is high. Building the mechanism has also had a minimal environmental impact. The machine consists of two basic elements: a collector to capture the wave energy, and a turbo generator to transform the wave power into electricity. A 25 metre-wide gap has been cut into the island's cliffs and covered with a concrete structure that forms a wave chamber. As waves rise and fall inside, the air within is compressed, thus driving turbines at the top, which power generators feeding into the national grid. It is an extremely durable structure, built to withstand the most powerful storms. Later versions will be cheaper, and will produce more electricity. Limpet has received plenty of interest, and a power purchase contract with Scottish and Southern Energy has already been agreed. It is estimated that if less than 0.1 per cent of the renewable energy within the oceans could be converted into electricity, it would satisfy the present world demand for energy more than five times over.
