Portugal’s Pelamis Wave Power Project Killed
We were pretty excited about Pelamis’ wave power plan in Portugal., but not every technology written about here pans out in the end. Pelamis’ €9 million Aguacadora wave power project–the world’s largest–has been taken offline due to numerous technological and financial setbacks.
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Pelamis installed three energy converters off the Portuguese coast in September, and planned to add 22 more for a total of capacity of 21 MW, or enough energy to power 15,000 homes. The initial three converters had to be removed in December, though, following leaks in the buoyancy tanks. A slew of more technical problems followed, and eventually Pelamis lost its financial backing.
A Pelamis spokesman claims that they go back online “as soon as things are resolved”–a claim that leads us to believe the project is kaput. Offshore power–whether wave or wind–isn’t cheap, and Pelamis’ funding problem shows that perhaps its golden years have yet to come.
New tech is extremely difficult and costly to develop to a successful commercial stage.
I am most aware of iron ore direct reduction processes developed by Midrex of the US and HYL of Mexico. All the major steel companies in the world had spent years and billions of dollars trying to develop such a process without success.
The two small unknown companies happened to hit upon the right combination and ‘made it’. That was in the early 70’s - they still dominate the field though it is on it’s final legs at this time.
All one can do is watch and possibly try to support someone who you think is on the right path.
This is also how come venture capitalists make big bucks when they support a winner - helps pay for the losing ventures of the past.
This article contains a number of factual errors:
1. The project has not been ‘killed’.
2. The project has not suffered ‘numerous technological setbacks’ - of course there are technical issues in any first of a kind engineering project but nothing that would not be expected.
3. The machines have not had leaks in buoyancy tanks
4. Pelamis has not lost its financial backing; however the project’s owner - Babcock and Brown has been hit hard by the financial crises and is in the process of selling the project, following which operations will continue.
@Max - So is the IHT lying here about the buoyancy tanks? http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/12/business/renport.php
Max Carcas is the spokesman for Pelamis Wave Power quoted by IHT! Who would you believe the quotee or the quotor? LOL
Read it again “foam-filled buoyancy tanks for the mooring installation leaked” that’s not saying the generators leaked!
Ariel - it’s always good journalistic practice to check the source.
The IHT report is misleading in a number of ways, as are some other reports that have referenced this (and now your report) and made 1 + 1 = 3. As a result we have put a statement on our website. I would appreciate it if you could at least remove the inaccurate headline.
Yes, we did have a problem with some foam used to provide positive buoyancy to our subsea mooring turret to which the machines connected to when brought on site. However there are no tanks and they did not leak, and they are not part of the machine as Paul above has mentioned. The issue with the foam is historic - it was replaced on the subsea units prior to the installation of the first machine in July 2008 when the project started to produce electricity for the first time into the Portuguese grid network.
[...] year’s disastrous startup of the gigantic Pelamis wave power project in Portugal illustrates how the allure of ocean power is matched by its unpredictability, though as a tidal [...]