New power wave heads out to sea - environment - 26 August 2011 - New Scientist

New power wave heads out to sea - environment - 26 August 2011 - New Scientist


An explosion of designs for harvesting wave energy could make the process competitive at last – and they're heading out to the ocean for testing

WRINGING electricity from the sea is no small task. But as firms start to test their wave-energy harvesters in the open ocean that could be about to change.

Heaving water holds 40 times more energy than air moving at the same speed, and sea states change more slowly than breezes, making it easier for utilities to predict the availability of energy. Yet the tools needed to make use of the sea's energy are gargantuan.

Pelamis Wave Power's wave energy device, P2, is a case in point. Currently stored at the Leith Docks in Edinburgh, UK, it uses spools of steel cable several times human height, and floats that are as big as a car. But this is just window dressing for the machine itself: a red rig that looks like a 180-metre-long subway train.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128276.100-new-power-wave-heads-out-to-sea.html