13 Feb 2012
The UK's marine power sector has received a major boost after the Scottish government launched a £6m fund to help commercialise emerging wave and tidal devices.
Scottish Enterprise today announced a second round of its £13m WATERS fund, first unveiled in 2010, for testing wave and tidal energy prototypes in Scottish waters and at the country's flagship European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).
The fund will provide another boost to marine developers following news last week that Glasgow has been selected to host the Technology Strategy Board's new £50m Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult headquarters.
The WATERS fund is designed to help Scottish developers and supply chain companies capture a larger share of the growing global marine energy market, which could generate £4bn for Scotland's economy by 2020, according to the government.
"Scotland is leading the world in the development of marine renewable energy," said first minister Alex Salmond at the launch of the fund.
"A wide range of both Scottish firms and major overseas companies such as Alstom, ABB, E.ON, Vattenfall and Kawasaki are investing in the development and testing of wave and tidal generation technologies in Scottish waters.
"It is increasingly clear that Scotland rules the waves."
The deadline for expressions of interest in the funding is 28 February, with full applications due by 28 March. Priority will be given to projects that have already been tested at part-scale, but smaller-scale demonstration projects are also eligible.
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Wave Power
Good on 'em,Top Man , ( Especially his £40,000 Houses ) !
Posted by derek, 13 Feb 2012
The world needs investors to begin the "OCEANOGENIC POWER"
The oceanogenic power is hydropower, super clean, efficient, and now, enough. The same energy that moves the oceans: the earth's rotation around its own axis, and the force of gravity, mainly between the earth and moon. OK, there is disagreement in the scientific community about the origin of the energy that sustains these two cosmic phenomena, but like so many other things in the universe, their existence is unquestionable. As for the possibility of loss due to thermodynamic reasons, can we dismiss this, as only the movement of the oceans is causing this type of wear and is many-illions of times larger than the energy used by mankind. The very nature has allowed us a place to extract this clean energy: Panamá, within 9 degrees north, where the tangential velocity of the earth is greater than 450 meters per second and the bulge of the ocean water, due to the respective centrifugal force, is 22 kilometers high. It is the place that separates all the oceans of the world with 70 kilometers (44 miles) of land, and 300 meters (900 feets) maximum of height, which stops the two daily tsunamis that represent tides and travel the 40,000 kilometers of the circumference of our planet. On the other hand, the tidal amplitude offshore (0.3 meters), coincide with the variation of distance calculated by applying to the derivative of the formula of universal gravitation, the variation of gravity due to the moon. This body of water has to move at the same speed of the tsunamis: A little less than 200 meters per second. Then, when the moon move from Panama to Asia in 12 hours (463 meters per second), each tide would have 27 hours to do the same route, so that when a high tide reaches the other end of the Pacific in Panama already there is a new high tide. By the other side, in the Atlantic, the bulge of water is stopped by the Americas, and its onset, especially in the northern hemisphere, has to expect the relative path of the moon on Europe, Asia and Africa, which corresponds to one quarter of the circumference of the planet or six hours. The roundness of our planet, and the position and direction of motion of the moon relative to Earth, defines, and makes it impossible for the ocean in Cape Horn change its direction of motion, the same as the rotation of our planet. Therefore, 24 hours a day, every day, the Pacific is exposed to the forces that move the whole mass of water present on earth, and every 6 hours, the exposure is practically alone on it. The Atlantic is never alone in front of these forces, and every 6 hours, it is not exposed to them. With a simple equation, it demonstrates why altimetry measures the Pacific is 37 cetimeters above the Atlantic. This difference, we have personally measured, lock to lock in the Panama Canal, already enables scaling up to 160 GW of continuous power; plus 12 Twh per day to refine cleanly sea water, oil, biomass or whatever. This is enough for five U.S. states like California, with its unquestionable research infrastructures. All the U.S. needs 2 tw average, for not using a single drop more oil, nor for power nor as raw material for industrial uses. After a first project will be possible to research the details to take advantage of the same principles and escalate to serve the entire U.S. or also the whole world. And this is the origin of the Oceanogenic Power, which, along with how take advantage of it, is our discovery.
Posted by Osmand Charpentier, 13 Feb 2012