credit to http://klasherbert.com/

“Hey guys, I found something after this post – Ocean Power Conversion Technologies. This is cool too!”

Interesting enough I have stumbled upon an interesting post. The world’s first wave farm has now gone live in Portugal!!

Okay, what is wave farm you may wonder. Wave here refers to water wave that occurs on the free surface of the ocean. They usually result from wind, and are also referred to as wind waves. Some waves can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. They range in size from small ripples to huge rogue waves. If you ever go to the beach before, I am sure you have seen the ocean wave. For 24/7/365 the ocean wave is forever there rolling from far hitting the seaside. Therefore, ocean wave actually contents great amount of energy.

So what happens is this group of scientist has invented a snake-like structure and placed it the middle of ocean at Agucadoura, off the coast of northern Portugal to function as a wave farm. As a wave farm, it is of cause meant to harvest wave. The structure is semi-submerged, articulated structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. When wave runs over the structure, the hinged joints move accordingly and then subsequently induce a generator to generate electricity. Electricity will then be transmitted to land.

In fact this is quite a good news to the world as the renewable-energy technology has again gone one step forward and hopefully by the near future this wave farm technology can be commercialized among countries. However I believe this will not be easy as the transmission cost will be incredibly high. It will definitely be more economical to remain with fossil energy source at the time being. Nevertheless, this achievement is superb! Kudos to all the engineers and scientists behind!

For a closer look, check out the detailed report at:-

• Prtugal Wave Power Plant Goes Live
• Pelamis Wave Poer

Or you may watch the wave farm in action in the video below. Well, it looks simple but I believe hundred and thousands of scientists have worked hard to achieve this!

* Small talk – I hope I don’t get electricity shock while swimming in the sea next time.