‘Sea Snakes’ to Help Advance UK Wave Energy
Posted on: October 7th, 2009 by Emma YoungPelamis Wave Power Ltd, has announced that they are developing a new Sea Snake system which will be installed at Orkney in Northern Scotland early next year. The 180 metre tube will harness the wave’s movements and energy and then transmit them using subshore cables onto land.
The Sea Snake is comprised of four sections with three joints. Each joint consists of a hydraulic pump which pumps oil through its motors while the sections move with the wave movements. These motors run generators designed to produce electricity.
The project is scheduled to be deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in a joint endeavor by Perlamis and E.ON. Once deployed, the Sea Snake will undergo testing and then be connected to the national grid. Finally, the Sea Snake is hoped to generate a total of 750MW of energy to be supplied to the UK via the grid.
The company has taken precautions and included safety measures to ensure that vessels on the sea to not become ensnared by the snake. Buoys and radar reflectors are also onsite above the water to helps sea traffic remain clear. Pelamis has also pinpointed their Sea Snake location on all newly printed charts to further aid ships with their navigation around the installed wave energy equipment.
Once initial testing is completed, and the first Sea Snake has been successfully connected to the grid, Pelamis will begin selling the Sea Snake to other energy companies. So far the company has an 3MW installation order from Scottish Power for a wave farm called Orcadian, which will operate using four of the Sea Snake systems.
