ANACONDA: WAVE ENERGY TO INDIA?

This item about a new concept in wave energy harvesting was reported in the Times of India’s “Wild and Wacky” section. If the device delivers on its promise, providing cheap clean energy all along India’s coasts, Britain could just about call it even for all it took out of India during the days of the Raj. Is that wild and wacky?

Interestingly, the viability of India’s wave energy resource is monsoon-dependent. When the seasonal weather calms, so does India’s coastal energy.

More details at Ocean Energy In India

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Anaconda to convert wave energy into cheap power
5 July 2008 (Times of India)

WHO
University of Southampton wave energy engineers

WHAT
Anaconda, an innovative wave energy device, is designed to generate 1 megawatt of power at a cost of 6 pence (12 cents) per kilowatt-hour or less.

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WHEN
Anaconda is still in the developmental stage. It has been proven only in lab tests. Further lab tests are ongoing and a prototype is designed.

WHERE
- Anaconda is being developed at the University of Southampton in the UK.
- Lab experiments are being conducted on 0.25 meter diameter and 0.5 meter diameter tubesin lab-simulated regular, irregular and extreme wave conditions.

WHY
- Anaconda is rubber, long, thin ,tubular, closed at both ends and filled with water. It is submerged, with one end facing the incoming waves.
- Incoming waves squeeze the tube, creating a “bulge” wave within it.
- The “bulge” wave turns a turbine at the far end of the tube.
- The turbine generates energy that runs along an attached cable to a power station on shore.
- Made of rubber, the Anaconda requires no hydraulics, hinges or joints, making it much less expensive and more durable than more complex “heavy metal” wave energy devices.
- A full-scale prototype will be 200 meters long and 7 meters in diameter.
- The prototype will be deployed at depths of 40 to 100 meters.

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QUOTES
John Chaplin, project lead engineer, University of Southampton: "The Anaconda could make a valuable contribution to environmental protection by encouraging the use of wave power…"