Wave Hub Energy Trial Technology Deployed

Final tests are being carried out after the successful deployment of the largest wave energy technology trial site on Earth – Wave Hub, situated 16 kilometres off the south western coast of England.

Wave Hub’s dominant feature is a seabed socket which is linked into the national grid and which allows new wave power technologies to be trialled.

“Seeing Wave Hub lowered into the water was the culmination of more than seven years' hard work by hundreds of people and the fact that it was designed and built in this country is testimony to the skills and experience that the UK already has in the fledgling marine renewables industry”, Guy Lavender – General Manager of the South West Regional Development Agency – stated in a press release issued on 6 September.

He added: “Wave Hub will be on the seabed for the next 25 years, helping the world gain invaluable knowledge about how we tap the vast energy potential of our oceans in the pursuit of clean, abundant, renewable energy and cementing the UK's position at the forefront of this green power revolution.”

Wave Hub: Wave Energy Technology

Costing £42m to develop, the wave energy technology testing device was lowered into the Atlantic Ocean at the start of September 2010 and it sits 180 feet under the surface. A cable 25 kilometres in length and 1,300 tonnes in weight links Wave Hub up to the mainland and no less than 80,000 tonnes of rock are required to keep this cable in place.

Initial Wave Hub tests are set to get underway later this year.

Wave Hub’s overall capacity is 20MWe (Megawatt electrical) and four wave energy technology firms are set to ultimately have use of it. These include Westwave, Fred Olsen Limited and Ocean Power Technologies Limited.

Wave Hub Energy

Potentially, Wave Hub’s output could electrify 7,500 homes, a renewable energy supply effectively stopping over 24,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere every 12 months that would have done had fossil fuel energy been used instead.

“It is fantastic news that Wave Hub has now been deployed on the ocean floor – this ground breaking project will strengthen the UK’s position at the forefront of the wave energy sector”, Davis Willetts, UK Science Minister, added. “The UK is already leading the way, with 25 per cent of the world’s wave and tidal technologies being developed here.

“This is a huge opportunity for UK business – the sector could be worth £2 billion by 2050 and it has the potential to create up to 16,000 jobs by 2040."

Wave Hub image Copyright of South West RDA and reproduced with grateful thanks