In South Australia, earned a wave power plant with a capacity of 1 MW

The fact that wave energy can be converted into electricity, people have known for a long time. In addition, for all these years, many wave power plants have been proposed, which, for the most part, have been dismissed as impractical or impracticable. But now the reality has become a reality, so to speak: the Oceanlinx company put into operation a powerful wave power plant. The power plant capacity was 1 MW.



There is this station not far from Port MacDonnell (Port MacDonnell), of course, off the coast. Despite the fact that the power plant works and produces electricity, it is considered a test sample, in the image and likeness of which, in case of successful testing, other power plants will be built. The principle of its action is based on the system of air ducts, along which, due to the action of the waves, the air enters the turbine, causing its blades to rotate.

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Of course, such a system is very complicated, but, as we see, everything is realizable. The station stands at the bottom of the sea, rising from the water by about 10-15 meters. The designers chose a solution in which there is practically no need to transform the seabed to create the foundation. This reduced the impact of construction on the environment.



The total cost of this station is not so great: $ 8 million. Part of the amount was allocated to Oceanlinx, part (4.4 million US dollars) was provided by the agency (ARENA Australian Renewable Energy Agency). The station will be tested for 12 months. Now the station is not yet connected to the general power grid of the region; this will be done after passing a series of tests, a little later this year.



Next year, if everything goes well, the project will be expanded by installing a larger number of wave converters (a converter of this type called greenWAVE). As a result, the station's capacity will increase to 10 MW.



An agreement has already been concluded with the energy company Diamond Energy, which will buy out the energy of this station, as well as the energy that will be produced by all other power plants of similar design built by Oceanlinx.



Via businessspectator