Wave power turns the tide on electricity generation
“Australia has fantastic opportunities to capture wave energy, because of the wind and the weather formations, and a huge coastline where most of the population lives.”
The Bombora Wave Power system is a long flat pillow of air protected by a flexible membrane and weighted down to the ocean floor. As the waves wash over the structure, it sends a rush of air through a set of valves into a wind turbine, which then spins the wave power into electricity.
Each Bombora Wave Power unit has the potential to generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 500 homes, and represents the equivalent of taking 825 cars off the road.
Currently in a demonstration and development phase, the Bombora Wave Power system should be in place for testing off the coast of Perth by 2015.
“Wave energy has a very predictable pattern, and as a renewable power it’s complementary to wind and solar,” explains Shawn Ryan, executive director of Bombora Wave Power. “The entire system can operate much closer to shore than wave power alternatives, which reduces the transfer costs, and it is totally safe. In fact, it will become an artificial reef where fish and other sea creatures can hide.”
The Bombora Wave Power system is just one of a number of different technologies being implemented around the world to capture power from the waves.
GE Power Conversion is testing tidal turbine electricity generators on the sea floor off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland and at Ramsey Sound in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Sitting at a depth of between 50 and 70 metres, these underwater propellers are positioned precisely to capture the rush of the tides as they channel past the Scottish coast.
In other projects off the Australian coast, engineers are using buoys embedded with a central piston to capture the rise and fall of the tides and convert this movement into power.
While projects in South Korea, China and the UK signal a renewed interest tidal power stations, which capture energy from water as in runs in and out of man-made lagoons.
“All over the world there are locations with incredible tidal ranges which can be used as a reliable, clean and constant source of power,” says Baker. “Utility-scale power generation based on the sea will soon become a reality.”