Construction to begin on Wave Hub
Elaine Brass
13th November 2009
Long-awaited construction work is set to get underway next week on Wave Hub, an underwater 'electrical socket' set to become the world's
largest wave energy farm and the cornerstone of the South West's marine energy vision.
The £42 million Wave Hub is giant grid socket for wave energy devices that will be situated 10 miles off the coast of the north coast of Cornwall. Following more than six years of development, the Wave Hub now has funding and planning in place and has signed up its first wave device developer. When built it will be connected to the National
Grid via a sub-sea cable and will have the potential to generate 20
megawatts of electricity. It is expected to be operational by next year.
The South West has been designated a Low Carbon Economic Area and the Wave Hub will play a key part in the region's ambition
to become a centre of expertise in wave technology.
Stephen Peacock, executive director of Enterprise and Innovation at the South West Regional Development Agency (NWRDA), described the start of construction as a "milestone" for the region and the country. “[It] will catapult South West England and the UK to the forefront of wave energy development. Our aim is to create an entirely new low carbon industry in the South West and hundreds of quality jobs,” he said.
The first phase of Wave Hub’s construction will be on shore with civil engineers Dean & Dyball appointed to drill a 200-metre duct under and through sand dunes on the beach at Hayle in Cornwall between now and the end of the year. The narrow duct will be lined with a pipe as it is drilled and will eventually link Wave Hub’s subsea cable with a new electricity sub-station on the site of a former power station. Work on the sub-station will start in January and is expected to take six months to complete. It is planned that Wave Hub will be deployed and the subsea cable laid in the summer of next year.
The first wave energy device to have booked a berth on
Wave Hub is called PowerBuoy, developed by
Ocean Power Technologies, one of four developers set to test their
devices on the socket.
Wave Hub is funded with £12.5 million from the South West RDA, £20 million from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme and £9.5 million from the UK Government.