| Islay LIMPET | |
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The LIMPET installation |
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| Location | Islay, Scotland |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 2000 |
| Developer(s) | Wavegen in cooperation with Queen's University Belfast |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | Wave |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 0.5 MW |
Islay LIMPET is the world’s first commercial wave power device connected to the United Kingdom's National Grid.
Following the construction of a 75 kW prototype in 1991, a 500 kW unit was built in 2000, and is located at Claddach Farm on the Rhinns of Islay[1] on the Scottish island of Islay. Islay LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transmitter) was developed by Wavegen in cooperation with Queen's University Belfast.
Islay LIMPET is a shoreline device uses an oscillating water column to drive air in and out of a pressure chamber through a specially designed air turbine. The chamber of the LIMPET is an inclined concrete tube with its opening below the water level. As external wave action causes the water level in the chamber to oscillate, the variation in water level alternately compresses and decompresses the trapped air above, causing air to flow backwards and forwards through a pair of contra-rotating turbines.