Britain's First Wave Farm to be Built in Cornwall

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Britain's First Wave Farm to be Built in Cornwall

In Cornwall, Britain's first wave farm is set to start generating electricity with one device in 2018.

If the device proves successful,  fourteen more are expected to follow in 2020. Together, they'll be able to provide enough electricity for 6,000 homes each year.

Carnegie Wave Energy, an Australian company, has been granted £9,551,962 ($11,834,069) from the European Regional Development Fund to support the first phase of its planned commercial project at Wave Hub in Cornwall.

The device is called 'Ceto 6', named after a sea goddess in Greek mythology.

Ceto is different from other wave energy devices as it operates underwater. This means it is safer from large storms and invisible from the shore.

The grant represents 65 per cent of the funding for a £15 million ($18.5m) project to design, construct, install and operate a single, grid-connected Ceto 6 wave device.  When it starts generating in 2018, Ceto 6 device will represent the country's first wave farm.  The device works using a large float submerged in the sea.

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As the float is lifted and lowered by the wave motion, this drives a pump and a generator.

Power is delivered back to shore through subsea cables to power desalination plants as well as for export into the grid. Three Ceto units are already in operation in Australia.

It will start providing 1MW of electricity  in 2018, enough for 400 homes a year, but this will grow to 15MW with another 14 devices by 2020 if the second stage of the project goes ahead. 

That will be enough to power 6,000 homes each year by 2020. This would make it Britain's first wave farm with multiple devices. 

'The UK offers unique advantages for the commercialisation of Ceto,' said Carnegie's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Michael Ottaviano. 

dH5RAG1.jpg'We are pleased that stage 2 is set to offer a commercial return on investment with its 15MW array which will allow third party investment in this stage.'

Wave power could become a viable alternative to wind energy.

'It is estimated the UK has around 50 per cent of Europe’s tidal energy resource, and a study in 2004 estimated the UK’s technical resource at around 16 terawatts per hour per year (TWh/year) (4 per cent of overall supply),' the government says.

It is much more predictable than wind power and it increases during the winter, when electricity demand is at its highest.

The government has been trying to back wave and tidal power for years, but companies have struggled to get it off the ground.

Part of the reason behind the struggle is a lack of funding. For example, Pelamis, a Scottish company that developed and built wave energy devices was forced to call in administrators in 2014 after failing to secure development funding.

Carnegie will rely on the government's feed-in-tariff for marine energy, that will provide £305 per megawatt hour for the second stage of the project.

'I am delighted that Carnegie secured the £9.55m of ERDF funding and chosen to deliver its CETO wave energy project at Wave Hub,' said George Eustice, Minister of State at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 

'Cornwall offers a cluster of academic and industrial expertise, world class test facilities, infrastructure and resources which ensures it is well positioned to play a significant role in securing the UK's continued reputation as a market leader in offshore renewables.' 

Source: Daily Mail

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