Translated material
Into the oncoming wave
E.ON eyes sea energy
German energy company E.ON, which has successfully harnessed wind and solar power, is preparing to harness yet another renewable energy source. This week in Scotland, a Düsseldorf-based company presented its first prototype of a power plant that generates electricity from sea wave energy. Moving waves act on a special hydraulic system, which converts wave energy into electrical energy.This year, such a 750 kW installation will undergo testing in real marine conditions at the European Marine Energy Center on the island of Orkney, north of the Scottish coast. With the start of the test phase of the Pelamis P2 Wave Energy Converter, E.ON expects to make an important contribution to the future exploitation of the enormous potential of marine technologies for industrial electricity production. The company's first wave power plant is a 180 m long, 1,500 t steel structure that will be periodically covered and exposed to incoming waves.
Wave energy is concentrated wind energy and eventually solar energy. The power received from the disturbance of all the oceans of the planet cannot be greater than the power received from the Sun. But the specific power of electric generators powered by waves can be much greater than from other alternative energy sources. Experts believe that the potential of the World Ocean is capable of covering the electricity needs of all humanity. However, according to E.ON, energy companies have a long way to go before actually commercially using the power of waves and tides. The industry is only taking its first steps in this direction. However, Frank Mastio, CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables, is convinced that marine technologies for electricity generation will play as important a role as wind and solar energy in the future.
Producing electricity from renewable sources is one of the main activities of the concern. Since 2008, generating capacity using wind, biogas, biomass and solar energy has increased eightfold, to 3,200 MW. By the end of this year this figure will be 4 thousand MW, and by 2015 - 10 thousand MW. In the renewable energy sector, the group invests primarily in wind power plants and then in solar energy. Wave energy is one of the areas of research. Mr. Mastio said that if the test phase of the project is successfully completed, E.ON is ready to develop the wave power technology “to industrial maturity.”