00:00 Map
of South West England
Pan
across Cornish coastline
Coastline
shots
Dr
Chudley walk in to Plymouth University
Plymouth
University sign
Guide Voice: The South West of England is a
peninsular – and catches the full force of waves crossing the
Atlantic. So it’s an ideal location for research into
wave-generated energy, one of the most viable of renewable
resources. One example of this is the Orecon project, a spin out
from research undertaken at the University of Plymouth.
00:22 SOT: Dr. John
Chudley, Director, Research & Innovation Office, University of
Plymouth – “Orecon came about through the
development of a couple of research projects involving two
researchers particularly looking at the development of a point
absorber wave energy device and also someone looking at the
environmental requirements for wave energy and at the end of their
research projects the two graduates involved developed that into a
spin out company”.
00:44 Fraser
Johnson walk into Orecon office – zoom in on sign
Diagram
of Orecon unit
Underwater
shot of unit in wave tank
Guide Voice: Fraser Johnson has developed a
multi chambered wave energy converter that can be anchored
off-shore and automatically tunes itself to different wave
frequencies, maximising the use of energy transmitted by the rise
and fall of the waves.
01:00 SOT: Fraser Johnson, Chief
Technical Officer, Orecon Ltd., - “The unit
we’ve got is based on an oscillating water column principle
– where we have a fixed chamber in the water and within that
we have a mass of water. As a wave comes forward it causes that
water within the chamber to move up and down, to rise and fall
within a reference chamber, above that we have an air cushion and
we force that air cushion out through an air turbine as the water
rises and we suck it back in through the turbine as the water
falls.”
01:30 Wide
of Orecon test model being lifted into wave tank
c.u.
Orecon test model suspended above wave tank
Underwater
shot of wave action
Tassles
showing air movement through Orecon unit
c.u.
waves in wave tank
Underwater
shot of wave action
Guide Voice: Originally tested in the largest
sea water basin in Europe, at Brest in France, Orecon is still in
the development stage, but a prototype has been field tested and
early results are encouraging. Typically located 6-10 miles off
shore in order to have a minimum water depth of 50 metres, a single
unit has an installed capacity of 1 megawatt, enough to power 1000
homes. The simplicity of the unit makes it perfectly suited for use
around the world.
01:59 SOT: Fraser
Johnson – “Because we include these
multiple chambers the device can be matched or tuned to any type of
wave climate, be it the UK, be it Portugal moving down through
Africa, West coast of America and South America, New Zealand,
Australia, South Africa. All these areas where you have wave action
turning up on a beach or a cliff face, anywhere of those types of
locations, you could put a wave energy device”.
02:28 Dean
Millar walking
c.u.
Exeter in Cornwall sign
Dean
Millar enters University
Guide Voice: Dean Millar, at the neighbouring
University of Exeter in Cornwall, is also working on a source of
renewable energy that taps into wave power.
02:37 SOT: Dean Millar,
Renewable Energy Programme Director, University of Exeter in
Cornwall – “It’s very important for
us to find new sources of energy and in particular to make the most
of the renewable energy resources which are available on the
planet, the reason for that is that there is a link with climate
change and the emissions of gasses from industrial processes most
of which are linked to the use of fossil fuels but another reason
is because those resources of fossil fuels are finite and
eventually they’ll get used up”.
03:14 Wide
of cliffs on Cornish coastline
Wide
of old mine workings on cliff top
Pan
down cliff to adit opening
Waves
entering gully
c.u.
adit and air expulsion
Dean
Millar and companion approaching sensor housing
Dean
Millar opening housing
Medium
wide of researchers on cliff face
Adit
opening showing instrument cable
Pan
up from waves in gully to adit opening
Medium
wide of old, derelict mine workings
Guide Voice: His research focuses on the
dramatic North Cornwall coastline, an area that has been
extensively mined since Roman times.
Here a natural sea cave connects with mine workings via two
shafts and a horizontal drainage tunnel or adit. Waves enter a
naturally formed gully in the side of the cliffs and push in
towards the cave. Air is propelled through the shafts and along the
adit then, as the wave retreats, air is sucked back into the
cave.
Sensors have been installed in the shaft to monitor air flow and
have recorded air being forced out through the shaft at speeds in
excess of 100 metres per second. By installing a self rectifying
turbine in the mine, one that could make use of this two way flow,
this energy could be harnessed to create electricity – and
its use isn’t restricted to coastlines where these features
already exist.
04:03 SOT: Dean Millar
– “The Power conversion concept will work if one
were to develop one’s own shaft, a custom shaft, using the
latest in mining technology and that is a development which
we’re working on here at the University of Exeter in
Cornwall.”
04:20 Seagull
soaring above cliff tops
Pan
along section of coastline
Fossil fuels are an increasingly expensive, finite resource
contributing to global warming. Wave energy is clean, constant and
freely available – is this the future of energy
development?
04:35 END
