“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster,” is the quote attributed to Jonathan Swift. But what about the wave power company that first deployed an Oyster? It’s an unlikely looking energy generator, the Aquamarine Power Oyster, with its big hinged flap, but the company appears to be making steady progress with it.
The latest news on the Oyster out of Scotland is that the government has approved Aquamarine’s plan to put three of the 800-kilowatt devices at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, where last September the company deployed a single Oyster. Though still termed a demonstration project, the government said the set of three Oysters would comprise Scotland’s “first near shore commercial wave power array” to be connected to the National Grid.
image via Aquamarine Power
On its blog, Aquamarine said the approval was a key step in turning Scotland’s big marine power ambitions into reality.
“It paves the way for us to continue working with Marine Scotland to further streamline the consents process and gain all the necessary consents for our 200-megawatt (MW) commercial wave energy site in Orkney, and our 40-MW site on Lewis,” the company said.
The Oyster 800 is the updated version of the original Oyster 1, with increased power output, simplified installation and easier routine maintenance, according to the company. Some of the gains are explained by the device’s new shape: it’s wider than the original, helping it capture more wave energy, and it sits atop two seabed piles rather than the original four.
[source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Earthtechling/~3/vMGedwRUVKw/]
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