The first commercial wave farm was recently installed off the coast of Portugal. This 2.25 megawatt generator will be able to power 1500 homes. The large, snake-like farm is attached to hydraulic pistons, which it reciprocates as the waves traverse its structure. One of the major issues for this science is the large amount of stress it encounters from the violent ocean current. Being that this is the first of its kinda, it is likely that there will be problems to resolve. However, problems like this generally lead to solutions for better, more robust designs. If this project works, a 21 megwatt wave farm will be installed (powering 15,000 homes). Other European countires are embracing this science. Scotland plans to have a wave farm installed in the near future as well. Wave farm technology would be viable in the United States as well. Utilizing the current along the coastlines could prove to be a valuable asset to coastal cities. This would also eliminate the problem of transporting energy over long distances that current wind and solar technologies face.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment