Filed under: Emerging Technologies
First European wave energy farms open
While we wait to finally have a range of electric, or at least plug-in, cars to buy, it's good to know that there are ever more sources of clean energy - i.e., wave power - to produce this electricity. As you might have noticed, the ocean is permanently moving, so it is a good idea to capture some of this kinetic energy. Back in the 1970s it building dams at seashores was considered, that strategy wasn't met with success. The idea has been reconsidered, and today energy is captured not from tides but surface waves. Two commercial plants have just opened in Atlantic waters: One near Porto, Portugal (shown above) with 2.25 MW capacity and another near Santoña, Spain that is able to produce 1.4 MW of electricity.
[Source: Renwable Energy and Econoticias]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RAN 5:20PM (10/09/2008)
More power to 'em!
Uh... no pun intended...
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Nick Quigley 9:10PM (10/09/2008)
It's good to know that these plants already exist... too bad there aren't any in the US! (yet)
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JamesWB 11:03AM (10/10/2008)
Britain has one of the longest coastlines in Europe, we should really be using this kind of thing. We also have one of the windiest coastlines.
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twonius 2:49PM (10/10/2008)
The economist had a pretty good article about wave power a few years ago. It was first developed in Brittain but the nuclear industry lobbied to have the funding cut.
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