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RAN
10-09-2008, 04:21 PM
From AutoblogGreen: (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/09/first-european-wave-energy-farms-open/)

First European wave energy farms open

Posted Oct 9th 2008 at 3:18PM by Xavier Navarro (http://www.autobloggreen.com/bloggers/xavier-navarro/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2008/10/pelamis_bursts_out_of_a_wave.jpg

While we wait to finally have a range of electric, or at least plug-in, cars to buy, it's good to know that there are ever more sources of clean energy - i.e., wave power - to produce this electricity. As you might have noticed, the ocean is permanently moving, so it is a good idea to capture some of this kinetic energy. Back in the 1970s it building dams at seashores was considered, that strategy wasn't met with success. The idea has been reconsidered, and today energy is captured not from tides but surface waves. Two commercial plants have just opened in Atlantic waters: One near Porto, Portugal (shown above) with 2.25 MW capacity and another near Santoņa, Spain that is able to produce 1.4 MW of electricity.

[Source: Renwable Energy (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=53673) and Econoticias (http://www.ecoticias.com/20081008-inauguracion-de-la-primera-planta-europea-undimotriz-de-aprovechamiento-energetico-de-las-olas.html)]

It's about time! I heard of a wave-powered water purifier years ago, but there are many parts of the world where this makes total sense.

WarpedOne
10-09-2008, 05:08 PM
This is a good thing :cake:

The biggest problem with these renewables is their unreliability. Ocean waves are almost 100% reliable (if you choose the right spot ofcourse, Bermuda Triangle does not qulify :) so they do not need (as much) need backup systems.

RAN
10-09-2008, 06:53 PM
Absolutely WarpedOne. We'll see how serious the utilities are about real renewable energy when there are so many of these floating around that they have to re-route shipping because of them.

MVRacing
10-09-2008, 11:35 PM
Recently read an article about an outfit testing wave generators off the coast of Oregon. Seems like promising technology.