Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Wave Country Notes

Portugal
Since 1978 Portugal has played a significant role in wave energy R&D, with considerable work being undertaken at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) of the Technical University of Lisbon and the National Institute of Engineering and Industrial Technology (INETI) of the Portuguese Ministry of Economy. Most of the research has been devoted to OWCs and associated turbines, which included the building of a pilot 400 kW OWC plant on the island of Pico in the Azores.

In 2003 the Wave Energy Centre was set up with the objective of providing dissemination, promotion and support to the implementation of wave energy technology and commercialisation of devices. The Centre has a number of ongoing projects, including a 700 kW OWC installed in Foz do Douro breakwater (www.wave-energy-centre.org).

The Portuguese Government is attracting considerable inward investment from wave energy developers by offering enhanced prices paid for electricity derived from wave energy devices (initially, approximately US$ 0.30/kWh). Projects confirmed to date include: a 2.25 MW scheme consisting of 3 Pelamis devices which have already been delivered (www.oceanpd.com) and a 2 MW scheme using the AquaBuOY technology (www.finavera.com/wave), with interest from several others.