Islay LIMPET
| Islay LIMPET | |
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The LIMPET installation
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 Location of Islay LIMPET
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| Location | Islay, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°41′25.56″N 6°31′20.12″W / 55.6904333°N 6.5222556°WCoordinates: 55°41′25.56″N 6°31′20.12″W / 55.6904333°N 6.5222556°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 2000 |
| Wave power facility | |
| Type | Oscillating Water Column |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 0.25 MW |
Islay LIMPET is the world's first commercial wave power device connected to the United Kingdom's National Grid.
Following the construction of a 75 kW prototype in 1991, a 500 kW unit was built in 2000, and is located at Claddach Farm on the Rhinns of Islay on the Scottish island of Islay. The capacity was later downgraded to 250 kW. Islay LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transmitter) was developed by Wavegen in cooperation with Queen's University Belfast.
Islay LIMPET is a shoreline device uses an Oscillating Water Column to drive air in and out of a pressure chamber through a Wells turbine. The chamber of the LIMPET is an inclined concrete tube with its opening below the water level. As external wave action causes the water level in the chamber to oscillate, the variation in water level alternately compresses and decompresses the trapped air above, causing air to flow backwards and forwards through a pair of contra-rotating turbines. A report covering the long term running of the turbine was produced in 2002.
Based on this design, a 16 turbine plant was built in the Bay of Biscay in Spain, the Mutriku Breakwater Wave Plant, which was fully operational and handed over to the company in 2011.
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