Testing wave energy devices at the Wave Hub

As offshore wind power is developing at commercial scale, other sources of marine energy are being investigated to complete the renewable energy package (for example, see this older post).

The Wave Hub is a kind of giant seabed socket connected to the UK grid located 16 kilometers off Hayle on the north coast of Cornwall in South West England. The hub offers four separate berths (total capacity of 16-20 MW) allowing developers to test their wave energy devices. This offshore infrastructure is complemented by the Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy, a center of excellence providing world-leading research, facilities and technology transfer in marine energy (see PRIMaRE website). The Wave Hub is the world’s largest grid connected offshore marine energy test site.After Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), which has already signed a commitment agreement to deploy its PowerBuoy® device at the Wave Hub, a second berth has been filled by Ocean Energy that expects to install a full-scale device by the end of this year (press release). This will actually be the first device deployed at the Wave Hub. Ocean Energy has been testing a quarter-scale prototype of its OE Buoy in Ireland for three years. The 1.5 MW OE Buoy uses the oscillating water column to generate electricity as air is forced through a turbine both as waves enter a subsea chamber chasing air and as waves recede causing a vacuum. Efficiency is improved as the turbine rotates continuously.