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A wave farm or wave power farm is a collection of machines in the same location and used for the generation of wave power electricity.
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The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world's first commercial-scale wave farm.[1] It was located 5 km (3 mi) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Oporto in Portugal. The farm used three Pelamis wave energy converters to convert the motion of the ocean surface waves into electricity, totalling to 2.25MW in total installed capacity. The farm first generated electricity into the Portuguese grid in July 2008[2] and was officially opened on the 23rd of September 2008, by the Portuguese Minister of Economy.[3][4] The wave farm was shut down two months after the official opening in November 2008 due to technical problems with the machines. [5][6]
Funding for a wave farm in Scotland was announced on February 20, 2007 by the Scottish Executive, at a cost of over £4 million, as part of a £13 million funding packages for marine power in Scotland. The farm will be the world's largest with a capacity of 3MW generated by four Pelamis machines.[7] See also: Renewable energy in Scotland.
Funding for a wave farm known as Wave hub off the north coast of Cornwall, England was approved in June 2007. The Wave hub operates as an extension cable allowing developers to install and operate wave energy generating devices while keeping down connection costs. Four device operators have expressed an interest in using the site which will initially allow up to 20MW of wave energy capacity.
There are no major wave farms off of the United States coast for the production of electricity from wave energy. Although this is the case, according to the president of trade association Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, “The total potential off the coast of the United States is 252 million megawatt hours a year.”[8] Despite the absence of current implementation of major projects, there has been significant investment on the part of public utility companies and federal funds for the implementation and economic viability of two new wave power energy centers as of September 30, 2008.
On December 18, 2007 the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the largest national utility company, announced a commercial agreement to purchase power generated by wave energy. This decision was made in part to be competitive in the public electrical energy market in the state of California under stringent renewable energy restrictions. Currently, California state law requires that publicly owned utilities are required to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and wave power by 2010. After the General Election on November 4, 2008 this law may be subject to change to an even more stringent law, which states that publicly owned utilities would be required to increase their proportion of electricity from renewable resources to 20% by 2010, 40% by 2020 and 50% by 2025.[9]
Federally, under the Marine Renewable Energy Research and Development Act of 2007 the United States has committed $200 million in federal funds toward wave energy technology to be allocated from 2008 through 2012. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is currently responsible for the allocation of $50 million per fiscal year for research, development, demonstration and commercial application of ocean energy.[10] In 2008, the first year of federal allocation toward wave energy, there are a total of fourteen recipients. The most notable recipients of this year include Oregon State University and the University of Hawaii. Oregon State University in partnership with the University of Washington, will implement the development of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center for wave and tidal energy. The second recipient, University of Hawaii will develop and implement the National Renewable Marine Energy Center in Hawaii.[11]
The Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company of Seattle has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permits to harness energy from waves off the coastline of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. The $28 billion project would be the largest renewable energy project in the nation.[12]
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