Islay_LIMPET Knowpia

Islay LIMPET
Islay LIMPET
	The LIMPET installation in July 2009
Country	Scotland
Location	Islay
Coordinates	55°41′25.56″N 6°31′20.12″W / 55.6904333°N 6.5222556°W
Status	Decommissioned
Commission date	2000
Decommission date	2012
Wave power station
Type	Oscillating water column
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	250 kW
	[edit on Wikidata]

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

History edit

Close up view of the seaward face of LIMPET

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 edit

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

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 causes 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.

Details of how the wave power station operates

Decommissioning edit

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

Related installations edit

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.^[6]

Footnotes edit

^ ^a ^b ^c "Coastal conversions". International Water Power and Dam Construction. 16 January 2008. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
^ Tom Heath. "The Construction, Commissioning and Operation of the LIMPET Wave Energy Collector" (PDF). Wavegen. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
^ 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.
^ "How it works: Wave power station". BBC News. 20 November 2000. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
^ Seenan, Gerard (14 September 2000). "Islay pioneers harnessing of wave power". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022.
^ "Inverness firm hands over the world's first full life wave power plant". Inverness Courier. 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.