Wave Buoy rides the waves

Developers of potential new wave energy technologies have been given access to the first set of data about the wave energy climate off the north Cornish coast of the UK from the Wave Buoy project, funded by the npower Juice Fund.

Regen SW, the renewable energy agency for the South West of England, initiated the project in January 2005 to help speed up the installation of the UK’s first wave farms to generate clean electricity.

The data gathered from the Wave Buoy will help wave energy device designers, and potential investors, understand the environment within which demonstration wave energy projects might operate, while enabling more accurate predictions about the amount of clean energy that could be produced.

The buoy, which records waves, tidal current and the presence of marine wildlife shows strong wave energy potential in the area with an average wave height (Hmax) of 2.3m over the three-month period.

The largest wave recorded (Hmax) was 8.8m (or 28 ft) high on the 13 February 2005. Wave Buoy continues to collect data at its location in the South West, identifying the great potential that lies in the Atlantic.