Wavegen Limited (later Voith Hydro Wavegen Limited) was a
wave energy
Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC).
Waves are generated by wind p ...
company based in
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was founded in 1990 by Allan Thomson. It was sold to
Voith Hydro
The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Hei ...
in 2005, and they closed the company in 2013.
History
In 2000, Wavegen became the first company in the world to connect a commercial scale
wave energy device (
LIMPET
Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, but are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups called "limpets" descended indep ...
) to the grid on the Scottish island of
Islay
Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...
.
[
] The LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer) is a shoreline device which produces power from an oscillating water column.
In May 2005, Wavegen was bought by
Voith Hydro
The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Hei ...
, a subsidiary of
Voith
The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Hei ...
.
[
]
Together with the Faroese power company
SEV, Wavegen had planned to develop the
SeWave wave energy plant project in
Nípanin in the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
.
[
] It was also the developer of the
Siadar Wave Energy Project
The Siadar Wave Power Station (also known as Siadar Wave Energy Project or SWEP) was a proposed 4 Megawatt, MW wave farm off the shore of Siadar Bay, in Isle of Lewis, Lewis, Scotland. The £30 million project, was to be built by Wave ...
.
[
On 17 November 2011, Wavegen put into operation the world's first commercial full life Limpet wave power plant. The 300-kW plant was sold to ''Ente Vasco de la Energía'' in ]Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.[
]
In March 2013 Voith Hydro decided to close down Wavegen choosing to concentrate on tidal power projects.[
]
See also
*Aquamarine Power
Aquamarine Power was a wave energy company, founded in 2005 to commercialise the Oyster wave energy converter, a device to capture energy from near-shore waves. The company's head offices were in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company ceased to trade o ...
*Oyster wave energy converter
The Oyster is a hydro-electric wave energy device that uses the motion of ocean waves to generate electricity. It is made up of a Power Connector Frame (PCF), which is bolted to the seabed, and a Power Capture Unit (PCU). The PCU is a hinged buoyan ...
References
{{Sustainable development in Scotland
Wave power
Organisations based in Inverness
Companies based in Highland (council area)
Electric power companies of Scotland
Renewable energy companies of Scotland
Renewable resource companies established in 1990
1990 establishments in Scotland
2005 mergers and acquisitions
Renewable resource companies disestablished in 2013
2013 disestablishments in Scotland