THE ISLAY WAVE POWER PROJECT - AN ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE

The design, construction and subsequent operation of the 75 kW oscilla ting water column wave power plant on the Isle of Islay has provided a significant insight into the practicality of wave power conversion, T he development of wave power plant poses a significant design and cons truction challenge for not only civil but also mechanical and electric al engineers, The plant must withstand the immense forces imposed duri ng storms, yet efficiently convert the slow cyclic motion of waves int o a useful energy source such as electricity and do so at a price comp etitive with other forms of generation, In addition, the hostile marin e environment hampers the construction process and the variability of the wave resource poses problems for electrical control and grid integ ration, Many sceptics consider wave power conversion to be too difficu lt, too expensive and too variable to justify the effort and expense n ecessary to develop this technology, However, the authors contend that with modular wave power systems developed from the practical experien ce gained with the Islay plant, wave power is a viable technology with a considerable world market potential, However, this technology is st ill at the early stages of development and will require the constructi on of a number of different prototypes before there is extensive comme rcial exploitation.