UK-based Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) has signed a contract with a Portuguese consortium led by Enersis to build the initial phase of the world’s first commercial wave-farm.
The initial phase will consist of three Pelamis p-750 machines located 5km off Portugal’s northern coast, near Povoa de Varzim. The US$10M project will have an installed capacity of 2.25MW and is expected to meet the average electricity demand of more than 1500 Portuguese households.
A letter of intent has also been issued to order a further 30 Pelamis machines (20MW) before the end of 2006, subject to satisfactory performance of the initial phase.
‘This is a significant milestone for our company and for wave energy,’ said Richard Yemm, managing director of OPD. ‘We see this order as just the first step in developing the Portuguese market, which has the potential to be worth up to one billion euros over the next 10 years.
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