In the first phase, a 40kW buoy approximately 10m in diameter, supplied by OPT, has been installed and fixed to three semi-submerged buoys anchored to the seabed at a depth of around 50m.
Iberdrola Renovables had earlier successfully completed land-based testing, where it studied the operation of the internal components of the first buoy, made in the US and called Power Take Off (PTO) units. The PTOs are the units through which the wave power is captured and converted in order to store it and, subsequently, extract it under optimum conditions.
These units are inserted and installed in a watertight cylindrical compartment. The testing also involved the inspection of the components, the evaluation of the individual functions of each one of the systems and the final endurance test, in which the units are connected together and the operating conditions that the buoy will have to face at sea are simulated, with swells of varying intensity.
Iberdrola Renovables plans to include 10 buoys with beacons in the plant, which is located 4km from the coast at Santona. The other nine buoys, which will be launched in a later phase, will have an initial installed power of 150kW. When the 10 buoys are operational, the annual electricity production of this installation will be approximately equivalent to the domestic consumption of some 2,500 homes.
