News

October 03, 2008

Portugal Takes The Lead On Wave Power

By Elena Clarici

The world’s first commercial wave power plant opened this week in Póvoa do Varzim, south of Porto, in Portugal. Initially it will supply enough energy for 1,500 homes, aiming to power as many as 350,000 homes in the future.

The Aguçadoura 2.25MW plant is a joint venture, with 77 per cent held by a consortium of three firms: Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal (EdP), energy infrastructure supplier EFACEC, and Enersis, a renewable energy company owned by Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown.  The remaining 23 per cent is held by Pelamis Wave Power, a UK-based engineering firm, formerly known as Ocean Power Delivery. Pelamis has supplied the three 140-metre long ‘snakes’ that convert the up-and-down...