If you happened to be by the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal, in February, you might have seen an intriguing sight: tugs towing rather large, yellow bulbous objects with cylinders protruding out of opposite ends out to sea. Designed by CorPower, these unusual objects are wave energy converters. One day, they may play a key role in delivering clean, renewable energy on a commercial scale.
Capturing energy from waves
The earliest known wave energy converter patent dates back to 1799, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that wave energy converts began to see the development and investment needed for commercial-scale application. Wave energy “is at such an innovative stage, it’s quite exciting,” says Dr Shona Pennock, a research associate in marine energy with the University of Edinburgh and technical advisor with EVOLVE, a transnational marine renewable energy partnership between research institutions, technology developers, and industry.
Wave energy converters can take many forms, each harnessing wave motion differently. “CorPower’s wave energy converters are like big floating buoys fixed to the seafloor that convert vertical movement into rotational movement to generate electricity,” explains Pennock. “Another type of device, which has just been deployed by Mocean Energy in Orkney [Scotland], is like a hinged raft. Whenever the device moves with the waves, a fluid inside flows between the two sections, generating electricity,” Pennock adds.
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