The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter
Company: Pelamis Wave Power
Floating on top of the water, the Pelamis device is the sea snake of ocean-power generation. It consists of four big cylinders strung together by hydraulic joints. As the tubes bob up and down on the waves, their movement pumps the joints, moving oil through hydraulic motors. Those motors drive generators to produce electricity.
Recent improvements in the design give the device's joints universal mobility. The initial joint worked like a knee joint—it could only generate electricity from simple up-and-down or side-to-side movements. The new design acts more like the ball-and-socket joint of your shoulder. It can make electricity whether the segments are moving up and down, from side to side, or in any other direction. That increases efficiency at turning waves into energy.
Each Pelamis snake is 600 feet long and 13 feet wide and generates up to 0.75 megawatts—that's enough to power about 500 homes for a year. Past projects have generated up to 2.25 megawatts, and Pelamis plans to set up similar ones at several sites in Scotland.
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