Islay LIMPET

Islay LIMPET
The LIMPET installation
Location Islay, Scotland
Coordinates 55°41′25.56″N 6°31′20.12″W / 55.6904333°N 6.5222556°W / 55.6904333; -6.5222556Coordinates: 55°41′25.56″N 6°31′20.12″W / 55.6904333°N 6.5222556°W / 55.6904333; -6.5222556
Status Decommissioned
Commission date 2000 (2000)
Decommission date between 2012 and 2018
Wave power facility
Type Oscillating Water Column
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 0.25 MW[1]

Islay LIMPET was the world's first commercial wave power device and was connected to the United Kingdom's National Grid.

History

Islay LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transmitter) was developed and operated by Wavegen in cooperation with Queen's University Belfast. Following the construction of a 75 kW prototype in 1991, a 500 kW unit was built in 2000 at Claddach Farm on the Rhinns of Islay[2] on the Scottish island of Islay. The capacity was later downgraded to 250 kW.[1][3]

Technology

Close up view of the seaward face of LIMPET

Islay LIMPET is a shoreline device using an Oscillating Water Column to drive air in and out of a pressure chamber through a Wells turbine.[1][4][5] The chamber of the LIMPET is an inclined concrete tube with its opening below the water level. External wave action cause the water level in the chamber to oscillate. This variation in water level alternately compresses and decompresses trapped air above, which causes air to flow backwards and forwards through a pair of contra-rotating turbines.

A report covering the long term running of the turbine was produced in 2002.[6]

Decommissioning

LIMPET with all installations removed except the wave chamber (8 August 2018)

The plant has been decommissioned, and as of 2018 all installations except the concrete construction making up the wave chamber have been removed.

Based on this design, a 16 turbine plant was built in the Bay of Biscay in Spain, the Mutriku Breakwater Wave Plant, which was fully operational and handed over to the company in 2011.[7]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 "Coastal conversions". International Water Power and Dam Construction. 16 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  2. ↑ Tom Heath. "The Construction, Commissioning and Operation of the LIMPET Wave Energy Collector" (PDF). Wavegen. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-26. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
  3. ↑ T.J.T Whittaker; et al. "The Limpet Wave Power Project – The First Years of Operation" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "How it works: Wave power station". BBC News. 20 November 2000. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  5. ↑ Seenan, Gerard (2000-09-14). "Islay pioneers harnessing of wave power". The Guardian. London.
  6. ↑ "Islay Limpet Wave Power Plant" (PDF). Queen’s University of Belfast. 2002. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Inverness firm hands over the world's first full life wave power plant". Inverness Courier. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
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