Tolosa, Spain / Inverness, Scotland: The world's first commercial breakwater wave energy plant will be built at the Spanish Atlantic coast, using technolgoy pioneered by Inverness-based Wavegen.

The new plant in Mutriku in Northern Spain will work with the Oscillating Water Colum (OWC) technology that Wavegen has developed. Wavegen, a subsidiary of Voith Siemens Hydro, operates the world's first long-term grid connected wave energy plant on Islay, where it has successfully field-tested this technology for seven years with the Limpet, a shoreline energy converter.

“Mutriku is a milestone in the history of wave energy. We are proud that the first breakwater wave energy plant will rely on Wavegen’s technology”, said Dr. Hubert Lienhard, President and CEO of Voith Siemens Hydro.

The new project will see the integration of 16 Wells turbines into Mutriku’s new breakwater being constructed by the local government. Supplying green electricity to around 250 households with a rated power of nearly 300 kW, the plant will be commissioned in the winter of 2008/2009.

Starting signal for green energy from waves

With this innovative power plant concept the production of green energy will be integrated into a marine construction with minimised additional construction costs.

David Gibb, General Manager of Wavegen said: “This project represents a major step towards commercialisation of wave power as we continue to develop the technology and demonstrate its reliability under commercial operating conditions.” 

How to turn waves into watts

The wave plant will use the Oscillating Water Column principle which has been utilised in Wavegen’s demonstration plant in Scotland since 2000. An opening in the front of the breakwater allows the sea to rise and fall within a chamber due to the action of the waves. This motion compresses and decompresses the enclosed volume of air. The energy generated from this pressure differential is then – with the aid of a Wells turbine and a generator – transformed into electricity and fed into the grid.