The UK wave energy development firm Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) has announced the signing of an order with a Portuguese consortium led by Enersis to build the initial phase of the world’s first commercial wave-farm to generate renewable electricity from ocean waves. The initial phase will consist of three Pelamis P-750 machines located 5km off the northern coast of Portugal, near Póvoa de Varim. The EUR 8 million project will have an installed capacity of 2.25 MW, and is expected to meet the average electricity demand of more than 1500 Portuguese households whilst displacing more than 6000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide emissions from conventional generating plant. Subject to the satisfactory performance of the first stage, an order for a further 30 Pelamis machines (20 MW) is anticipated.
