| Wave Hub | |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Location | 10 miles (16 km) off Hayle, South West England |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | under construction |
| Commission date | 2011 (expected) |
| Owner(s) | South West of England Regional Development Agency |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | wave power |
| Power generation information | |
| Maximum capacity | 20 MW |
The Wave Hub is a wave power research project. The project is developed approximately 10 miles (16 km) off Hayle, on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hub is a 'socket' sitting on the seabed for wave energy converters to be plugged into; it will have connections to it from arrays of four kinds of wave energy converter. A cable from the hub to main land will take electrical power from the devices to the electric grid. The total capacity of the hub will be 20 MWe. The estimated cost of the project is £28 million.
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The project is developed by the South West of England Regional Development Agency.[1] A total of four wave device developers will connect their arrays into the Wave Hub. This will allow the developers to transmit and sell their renewable electricity to the UK's electricity distribution grid. Each developer will be able to locate their devices in one quarter of the 3 by 1 kilometres (1.9 by 0.62 mi) rectangle allocated to the Wave Hub. A sub-sea transformer will be provided with capacity to deliver up to a total of 20 MW of power into the local distribution network. There are three wave device developers confirmed and one still in negotiation. The three confirmed developers are:
The one to be confirmed is:
Ocean Power Technologies, Ltd. is a US-based company, formed by Dr. George W. Taylor and the late Dr. Joseph R. Burns. Since 1994, OPT has focused on its proprietary PowerBuoy® technology.[2]
Fred Olsen Limited is originally from Oslo, Norway and started in the ship business. Recently they have expanded into offshore wind. "Fred Olsen Limited has developed a unique multiple point-absorber system for energy extraction from the waves. A number of floating buoys attached to a light and stable floating platform manufactured in composites converts the wave energy to electricity."[3]
WestWave is a joint venture of E.ON and Ocean Prospect. They intend to install up to seven[4] Pelamis devices. "The Pelamis is a semi-submerged, articulated structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave-induced motion of these joints is resisted by hydraulic rams, which pump high-pressure oil through hydraulic motors that drive electrical generators to produce electricity."[3] Each Pelamis machine is rated at 750 kW.
The project is financed by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (£12.5 million), the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme (£20 million) and the UK government (£9.5 million).[1]
Wave Hub could generate £76 million over 25 years for the regional economy. It would create at least 170 jobs and possibly hundreds more by creating a new wave power industry in South West England.
Wave Hub could generate enough electricity for 7,500 homes, saving 24,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year when displacing fossil fuels. This would support South West England’s target for generating 15 per cent of the region’s power from renewable sources by 2010.
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