PORTUGAL WORKS THE NEWEST IN WAVES

Wave Energy: New System Captures Significantly More Wave Energy Than Existing Systems
December 18, 2008 (Massachusetts Institute of Technology via Science Daily)

“MIT researchers are working with Portuguese colleagues to design a pilot-scale device that will capture significantly more of the energy in ocean waves than existing systems, and use it to power an electricity-generating turbine…designing a wave-capture system that can deal with the harsh, corrosive seawater environment, handle hourly, daily and seasonal variations in wave intensity, and continue to operate safely in stormy weather is difficult…

“Chiang Mei [of MIT]… has been working with Professors Antonio Falcao, Antonio Sarmento, and Luis Gato of Insitituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, as they plan a pilot-scale version of a facility called an oscillating water column, or OWC. Situated on or near the shore, an OWC consists of a chamber with a subsurface opening. As waves come in and out, the water level inside the chamber goes up and down. The moving surface of the water forces air trapped above it to flow into and out of an opening that leads to an electricity-generating turbine…

“The Portuguese plan is to integrate the OWC plant into the head of a new breakwater at the mouth of the Douro River in Porto, a large city in northern Portugal…the installation will include three OWCs that together will generate 750 kilowatts…the plant's absorption of wave energy at the breakwater head will calm the waters in the area and reduce local erosion…”