How do wave farms fit into the tidal energy picture?
Wind is huge but wave and tidal will be a lot bigger – it has to be because there are simply not enough places to stick wind turbines up and wind’s intermittent nature makes the predictability of the tides and waves ideal for power generation. Wave farms are complex because of the nature of the raw energy. Small wave farms are also being built in Spain and others are planned for Portugal, France and the US. The UK’s first wave farm is being built off the Cornish coast, rated at 20MW this will allow wave developers to trial the operation of multiple devices working together to supply a meaningful amount of power into the grid. How will Converteam contribute to marine energy both now and in the future? We currently have about 10% of the world market for electrical systems in renewables, the majority being wind. We are the largest exporter of such systems in the UK and we want to gain a similar position with wets – we want to supply the electrical systems for individual devices as well as
