Islay LIMPET was the world's first commercial wave power device and was connected to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

's National Grid.

History

Wave energy power plant, Islay - geograph

Islay LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transmitter) was developed and operated by

Wavegen Wavegen Limited (later Voith Hydro Wavegen Limited) was a wave energy company based in Inverness, Scotland. It was founded in 1990 by Allan Thomson. It was sold to Voith Hydro in 2005, and they closed the company in 2013. History In 2000, Wavege ...

in cooperation with

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. 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 on the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

island of

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital i ...

. The capacity was later downgraded to 250 kW.

Technology

Decommissioned Islay Limpet wave power plant

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 The Wells turbine is a low-pressure air turbine that rotates continuously in one direction independent of the direction of the air flow. Its blades feature a symmetrical airfoil with its plane of symmetry in the plane of rotation and perpendicul ...

. 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.

Decommissioning

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

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.

Footnotes

External links

Islay LIMPET wave power plant (Wavegen website)

LIMPET at Queen's University Belfast
{{Sustainable development in Scotland Islay Buildings and structures in Argyll and Bute Wave farms in Scotland