Construction of World's Largest Marine-Energy Test Site on Schedule in U.K.

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The world's largest test site for wave-energy devices is on track for completion this summer off the coast of Cornwall in the southwest of England.

The £42 million ($60.6 million) Wave Hub project is on schedule, according to the South West Regional Development Agency (Exeter, England). Resembling a giant electrical plug, the Wave Hub will sit on the seabed 50 metres below the surface and allow up to four marine-energy devices to be connected simultaneously.

The fabrication of undersea cables and the hub itself is nearing completion. JDR Cable Systems (Hartlepool, England) is constructing the armoured 25-kilometre subsea cable that will connect Wave Hub to the national grid, as well as the hub structure that will sit on the seabed. Testing at the facility will begin later this summer, and the first devices will arrive on-site in 2011.

"After seven years of planning, it's hugely satisfying to see the cable and hub actually taking shape," said Guy Lavender, Wave Hub's general manager at the South West Regional Development Agency. "We're on course for deployment this summer, and extensive testing will take place before we welcome our first wave-energy devices at Wave Hub, which we expect in 2011. The announcement in March by the Crown Estate of the first commercial licenses for wave-energy deployment off the north coast of Scotland makes Wave Hub more relevant than ever, because we can provide the industry with a grid-connected test facility on a scale not seen before that it can use before commercial deployment."

In March, the Crown Estate, which oversees the U.K.'s seabeds, awarded leasing rights to six wave and four tidal projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters in Scotland. Together, the 10 projects have a combined generating capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, which greatly exceeds the original target of 700 megawatts (MW). For related news, see March 18, 2010, article - Scotland Awards 1.2 Gigawatts of Marine Energy Projects.

Commenting on Wave Hub's progress, Patrick Phelan, managing director of JDR Cable Systems, said: "We are delighted to be taking a leading role in the design and manufacture of the Wave Hub cable system. This is exactly the type of renewable energy project that our Hartlepool factory was designed to build. We are combining our extensive experience in subsea oil and gas developments with our more recent experience of large-scale offshore windfarm projects."

When complete, the 1,300-tonne cable will be spooled directly onto a cable-laying vessel from JDR's deepwater quayside facility at Hartlepool Dock. JDR is also making four 300-metre 'tails' that will connect wave-energy devices on or just below the surface of the sea to Wave Hub. The hub assembly is also under construction and is a rigid steel structure that measures two metres high and about six metres long. The hub will sit on the seabed, under several metres of rock.

In related marine-energy news, AWS Ocean Energy (Inverness, Scotland) has begun tests of a new wave-energy device in Scotland's famous Loch Ness. The one-ninth-scale AWS-III device is a ring-shaped, multi-cell, surface-floating wave power system. It will be tested for the next four months, after which the company plans to test a full-scale, 2.5-MW prototype AWS-III in 2012. A 10-MW pre-commercial demonstration farm is scheduled for 2014.

Simon Grey, chief executive of AWS, said: "We are talking to several major industrial groups who can see that our progressive approach will have dealt with technology-risk by early 2011. If marine energy is to reach its full potential, the sector must offer low-risk, competitive energy solutions. By doing this, major industrial players will invest further, provide the necessary capital to fund large-scale rollout, and thereby help to strengthen the U.K.'s clean-tech economy--new jobs, low-carbon generation and significant export potential."

View Plant Profile - 1073381

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and is now expanding coverage across the world.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.