Hydraulic power is the backbone of renewable energy power generation, and the latest developments promise good times for wave power generation. Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland) has entered into a five-year long partnership with Aquamarine Power (Scotland) for development of next generation hydro-power converters.
The first fruit of the new partnership is the Oyster® Wave Power System. The technology is meant to harness the power from surge forces in near-shore waves. Basically, the waves force the moving part of the installation to sway back and forth. This in turn moves water pistons which pump water under high-pressure to a nearby onshore hydraulic turbine facility, which extracts work from the high-pressure water supply.
Image credit: Aquamarine Power
The installation is placed on the sea floor about 10-12m deep, and is in action all year long. Depending on configuration and location, each Oyster unit can generate peak power anywhere from 300 to 600 kW. Several units placed in near-shore water will feed a single hydraulic turbine. It is expected that a single power plant will operate with about 21 MW of installed capacity.
If you're interested in a more in depth look into the planet-wide wave power availability, take a look at this document. The western shores of UK and Ireland have significant wave power potential, so the partnership between Queen's University and Aquamarine Power is going to be a leap in the right direction.
