Category: Hydro


Larnaca Marina in Cyprus could soon have clean electricity from wave energy

December 30th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

Cyprus' government officials have expressed great interest in implementing SDE's wave energy device (which we covered here before) along the shores in the country. SDE has been in contact with Cypriot officials since 2006. The country's Institute of Energy has informed the company it is willing to assist the company in its pursuit to establish the first wave energy conversion plan in Cyprus.

One of the first locations where the wave energy device may end up getting built is the Larnaca Marina. The facility's manager, Glavkos Kariolou, said he has personal intentions on promoting the installation of renewable energy systems in the Marina. The length of available breakwater in the Marina is about 340-400 meters, while the height of the oncoming waves is satisfactory for the purposes of SDE's wave energy device.

sde-wave-energy-device

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Subocean Group gets investment from LDC

December 22nd, 2009 | Posted in General Hydro

renewablespg-suboceangroup

Scottish company Subocean Group, one of the largest providers of service for the marine renewables industry sector in the UK, has received an investment from LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group. The GBP 17 million investment will be used to double the business in the next two years and reach a turnover of GBP 300 million by 2014.

With this investment, LDC now has a significant minority stake in the company, valuing Subocean Group at more than GBP 75 million. The company is currently working on 50% of offshore wind farms in the construction phase in the UK. The company's order backlog is at about GBP 150 million, so there are strong foundations for Subocean Group's ambitious growth plans. There are plans for expanding the company's reach outside of UK from 2011 on.

[source: Subocean Group]

Vattenfall planning a large wave power farm outside the Shetland Islands

December 19th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

pel.-during-seatrials

Vattenfall has presented plans to develop a large wave power farm near the Shetland Islands, in Eastern Atlantic. The company announced the 20 MW project, and its completion as early as 2014. The power plant can be extended to produce many times the initial capacity in the future.

Vattenfall is collaborating with Pelamis Wave Power (Scotland), the developer of the Pelamis wave energy device, which has been deployed at three sites so far, two near Orkney in Scotland, and one in Portugal. The two companies formed a joint venture with the goal to develop the first wave power project near the Shetlands.

The new JV is called Aegir Wave Power, at the same time when vattenfall opened its Edinburgh office. The company claims the Shetland Islands offer next to ideal conditions for developing a project like this, enabling the developers to extract the maximum out of wave energy.

The Pelamis "snake" will first be used outside of the Shetland Islands area, as a 150-180 meter long floating line of connected tubes (25 Pelamis P2 machines) which move together with the waves, harnessing the energy of wave movement. This energy is tranformed into electricity along the body of the snake, using electrical power generators. The 20 MW planned for the project initially will be enough to generate clean electricity for about 9000 households annually. Once completed, and with the option to expand further, the new wave energy power plant is the largest of its kind on the drawing board in Europe.

[source: Vattenfall]

Sinohydro to develop 140 MW hydropower plant in Senegal

December 16th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

Sinohydro inked a contract for the development of a 140 MW hydropower plant in Senegal. The Gouina hydropower project represents a EUR 324 million investment, and will be located abou 64 km upstream from the Felou project, which is already under construction since late October.

senegal

The contract was signed between Sinohydro and the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) at the end of November this year.

[source: Sinohydro]

Minesto shows video of its tidal power plant at Copenhgen conference

December 14th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

Minesto, a Swedish and UK company, showed off its tidal power technology in a video presentation demoed for the first time at Cop 15. The video shows a vision for the future of marine energy power plants, featuring a tidal power plant using Minesto's technology for harnessing energy from low-velocity tidal currnets.

Theoretical models, simulations and model tests have been done earlier, and have proven the power plant's ability to harness ocean tide energy. The next stage in the development of this technology is the installation of a prototype machine off the coast of Northern Ireland in 2011.

The technology, Deep Green, can be explained in two ways, according to Minesto. The first stage is the increase of relative flow speed, when water is entering the turbine. With the oncoming tide, a lift force is created, pushing the kite upwards. The kite is secured to the ocean floor with a tether and controlled with a rudder. The second stage is the generator which converts kinteic energy into electrical energy. Here's demonstration video featuring the new technology:

The development of tidal power plants is crucial for the future of renewable energy. According to BWEA's document, The Benefits of Marine Technologies Within a Diversified Renewables Mix, an optimal ration between marine and wind energy is 40/60, in order to reduce the cost of backup systems, reserve capacity and fuel costs. Additionally, this would allow developers to avoid redundant investments in capacities that won't be needed. A total of GBP 1 billion per year of cost reductions from an optimal energy mix can be achieved, according to this report.

Minesto is company owned in majority by Saab Group, and Midroc New Technology, Verdane Capital and Chalmers University of Technology.

[source: Minesto]

Pulse Tidal to develop commercial tidal energy system with help of EU grant

December 9th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

pulse3Pulse Tidal has been approved EUR 8 million through an EU grant to develop a commercial scale tidal energy system. The Sheffield, UK based company is a developer of energy harvesting systems that work in shallow waters. The new generator will have 1 MW capacity and should be commissioned in 2012, providing electricity for about 1000 average homes.

The company has also signed contracts with a group of international companies to develop the commercial tidal device and form a secure supply chain for future volume production. This includes Bosch Rexroth for hydraulics, Herbosch Kiere for installation, DNV for certification, IT Power for engineering, Niestern Sander for construction, Fraunhofer IWES for control and electrycal systems and Gurit for composites.

[source: Pulse Tidal]

Atlantis Resources testing biggest tidal turbine in the world next year

December 7th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

atlantis-resources-twinturbines

Atlantis Resources Corporation is planning to test the biggest tidal turbine in the world next year, off the Orkney Islands, as part of preparations for Scotland's plan to harness ocean energy to power 500,000 homes by 2020.

The company is investing some GBP 15 million into building the test turbine, which will have rotors with a diameter of 18 meters. The AK-1000 turbine, with rated capacity of 1 MW, will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC), which is based in Orkney. It is a horizontal axis machine, with twin-rotors and fixed pitch blades (no pitch regulation, usually done when energy potential is stable and constant). The machine is more effective when water speeds are greater than 2.6 m/s.

Atlantis has been working with Statoil on winning the bid for the Pentland Firth marine energy project, which will be the first industrial scale wave and tidal energy facility in the world. It is intended to have at least 700 MW of installed capacity by 2020. The Crown Estate is expected to sign the release agreements for this estate by April.

According to Atlantis Resources, there are over a hundred companies doing research and developing marine energy devices, but only a few have actually installed devices at sea. Last year, Marine Current Turbines installed the first commercial scale turbine, the SeaGen, with 1.2 MW of capacity, in Northern Ireland.

Once installed, the Atlantis turbine will be the third such device installed in Great Britain.

[source: Atlantis Resources Corporation]

OPT chooses Oregon Iron Works to build its first commercial scale wave energy device

December 7th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro
OPT's PowerBuoy deployed on open sea.

OPT's PowerBuoy deployed on open sea.

Ocean Power Technologies announced the company has made a choice for the contractor who is going to build their first commercial scale wave energy device, the PowerBuoy. The contractor company is Oregon Iron Works (OIW), based in Clackamas. OIW has already been building its reputation as a "green tech" manufacturer in the industry.

Construction of the first commercial scale PowerBuoy system, to be deployed off the coast of Oregon, is the first phase of a total of 10 units to be installed at the Reedsport power station. The remaining nine units are part of phase two of the project. Once completed, the Reedsport power plant will the only facility of this kind in North America.

The first device will have 150 kW of power generating capacity, and will create some 30 temporary jobs, over the next nine months. Once completed, the power plant will require about 150 people to be employed and to work on service and maintenance of the machines. The power station is located some 2.5 miles off the coast, and will be directly connected to the Bonneville Power Administration's Gardiner Substation. The whole construction of the bouys and their deployment is planned to happen over the next 2-3 years. The units will be nearly invisible from the shore.

[source: Ocean Power Technologies]

Jammu and Kashmir planning more than 300 hydropower projects

December 7th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

jammu-kashmirThe state Jammu and Kashmir, India, is planning to develop some 310 hydropower projects in the state in order to meet the regions growing power needs, over the next twenty years.

The state's hydro potential is estimated at about 20 GW. Sixty-four of the 310 projects will be developed in the first phase of the initiative. Power projects with capacity above 200 MW are beind alotted to the state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corp (NHPC), while mini-hydropower projects are going to be developed through insitutional power promoters and local companies in the area.

Another part of the initiative to increase hydropower capacity in the state, is to turn towards more energy-efficient processes which will also help the state to conserve electricity. It is expected the first 64 hydropower's formal and administrative details are going to be done by the end of this year.

[source: Sify]

CWE and ELEM announced official completion of 50 MW Kozjak hydropower plant

November 30th, 2009 | Posted in Hydro

Macedonian Power Plant (ELEM) and China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE) have signed a protocal about complete fullfilment of all obligations from the agreement for the construction of the Kozjak hydropower plant in the Formey Republic of Yugoslavia Macedonia.

The Kozjak power plant has 50 MW of installed capacity, and can produce 150 GWh of energy annually, which is about one eighth of the total annual energy production in the country. The power plant uses two Francis hydraulic turbines to power the electrical generators. The project was launched by CWE in 2002. The Kozjak dam is one of the tallest such constructions in Europe, located about 25 km upstream from the river Vardar.

Kozjak hydropower plant

Kozjak hydropower plant

The completion of Kozjak, along with the hydropower plants Sveta Petka and Matka, envelopes the entire project with three cascade hydropower plants at the river Treska, which will provide 250 TWh of energy annually. ELEM plans to modernize existing hydropower plants in the future, as well as construction of new hydropower capacities.

[source: Macedonian Information Agency, image: ELEM]

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