Tag Archives: wave
A team of mathematicians and engineers from the University of Exeter and Tel Aviv University have devised a means of accurately predicting the power of the next incoming wave in order to make wave power technology far more efficient – potentially extracting twice as much energy as is currently possible. The key challenges for wave power generation are preventing devices being damaged by the hostile marine environment and improving the efficiency of energy capture from the waves. This research enables devices to accurately predict the power of the next wave in order to extract the maximum energy by controlling the … Continue Reading
According to a new study by Stanford researcher Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, of the University of California-Davis, by 2030 all new energy generation could come from wind, water and solar, and by 2050, all pre-existing energy production could be converted to renewables, using only technology that is already available and at a similar cost to using fossil fuels. Their plan calls for using wind, water and solar energy to generate power, with wind and solar power contributing 90 percent of the needed energy. Geothermal and hydroelectric sources would each contribute about 4 percent with the remaining 2 percent from wave … Continue Reading
The Florida Institute of Technology is testing a new technology to convert the energy produced by waves into electricity, The so-called Wing Waves work by tapping the elliptical motion of waves 20 to 30 metres beneath the surface and converting it into mechanical energy that can be used to generate power. Each trapezoid-shaped wing of the device is 2.5 metres in height and 5 metres wide. They can sway 30 degrees from side to side and complete the arc in 8 to 10 seconds. An aluminium prototype is now working off the Florida coast. Operational models would be built out … Continue Reading
Independent Natural Resources Inc, has received a permit for a wave powered facility to desalinate water off the coast of Freeport, Texas. The company hopes that the system will be in operation by the end of the year. The facility will be a 25 by 50 metre platform under which there will be 18 of the company’s SEADOG wave pumps. Each pump will send water up through three water wheels connected to a generator. The electricity from the generator will be used to power a reverse osmosis desalination machine. The SEADOG pumps, each of which are about two metres in … Continue Reading
Nine European countries have agreed to work together to build an electricity "super-grid" which will allow them to integrate their renewable energy production and storage facilities. The nine countries – Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland and the UK – are planning a network made up of thousands of kilometres of highly efficient undersea cables that could cost up to €30 billion ($au47 billion). The network would connect wind turbines off the coast of Scotland, solar panel arrays in Germany and wave power plants off Belgium and Denmark with hydro-electric dams in Norway. More than 100 … Continue Reading
The world’s largest working wave energy electricity generating device has been officially launched in Scotland. Known as Oyster, the device, built by Aquamarine Power, is stationed at the European Marine Energy Center Billia Croo site near Stromness. At present, it is the world’s only wave energy device which is producing power to the grid. Oyster produces electricity by pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine which feeds into the national grid to power homes in nearby Orkney and beyond. Oyster is designed to capture the energy found in near-shore waves in water depths between 10 and 16 metres. … Continue Reading
A British company, Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd, has demonstrated a new wave energy device known as "Anaconda".. Its inventors claim the key to its success lies in its simplicity: Anaconda is little more than a length of rubber tubing filled with water. Waves in the water create bulges which travel along the tubing gathering energy. In effect, the bulge surfs the front of the wave. At the end of the tube, the surge of energy drives a turbine that generates electricity. The company has been testing a small-scale, 8 metre long prototype in a wave tank in Gosport, Hampshire, and is … Continue Reading
Last July, a Pelamis wave power generator was towed into the Atlantic about 5 kilometres off the coast of Aguçadoura in northern Portugal. In September, two more Pelamis uints were added. Each Pelamis unit was capable of generating about 750 megawatts of electricity – making this the world’s first commercial wave power project. The project was a joint venture between the Portuguese power utility Energias de Portugal, a Portuguese electrical engineering company Efacec, and the Australian asset manager Babcock & Brown. The first problem the project encountered was leaks in the foam-filled buoyancy tanks for the mooring installation. These were … Continue Reading
Google has filed a patent for a wave-powered data centre. The data centre would also use sea water for cooling. There are currently an estimated 44 million servers in use worldwide. These use about 0.5% of the world’s electricity – about the same amount as Argentina or the Netherlands. Google’s patent envisages using existing technology, such as the Pelamis wave energy converter, to generate electricity for large server arrays located at sea where the most wave energy is available. The Pelamis device consists of a series of semi-submerged cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. Waves cause these sections to move … Continue Reading
For his doctoral project at Uppsala University, Rafael Waters, has designed and built a wave power facility on the bottom of the sea, two kilometers off the west coast of Sweden, near Lysekil. Electricity is produced using a linear generator that works with the slow movements of the waves. A conventional generator transforms rotational energy to electricity and it needs to turn at about 1500 rpm to be efficient – which means that the slow wave movement needs complicated gears of hydraulics to convert it into a rapid rotating movement. “Instead of trying to adapt conventional energy technology to the … Continue Reading
Videos
Renewables News- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Aussie Researchers Make Efficient Solar Cells from Low-grade SiliconResearchers at the University of New South Wales have found a way to make very high efficiency solar cells out of cheap, low-grade silicon. It has been known for several decades that hydrogen atoms can be introduced into the atomic … Continue Reading → […]
- First Aussie “Hot Rocks” Power Plant Begins ProducingThe first power plant in Australia to produce electricity using an enhanced geothermal ("hot rocks") system has begun producing electricity in the far north-east of South Australia. The one-megawatt Habanero pilot plant near outback Innamincka is operated by Geodynamics. Geodynamics … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted Water
