Wave Power Turbine
Portugal is turning to wind, wave and solar power to reduce its huge dependence on oil imports and meet its international commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The world’s first commercial wave power plant is set to begin operating off Portugal’s northern coast in 2006 while work on the world’s biggest solar power station will begin in the sunny south of the country next year.
But the bulk of the 2.5 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars) in private and public funds that the government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates set aside in July to develop renewable energy will go towards wind energy development.
The goal is to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in Portugal to 39 percent, as required by the UN Kyoto Protocol, from the roughly 30 percent expected this year.
Bravo!
Finally! Maybe this will set an example for other countries, showing that this kind of massive restructuring of a nation’s energy policy is not only possible, but very beneficial, in that it will greatly reduce Portugal’s dependence on importing oil, coal, and gas (and at the same time protect its economy from fluctuations in oil price), and create thousands of “green-collar jobs”.
Despite these good examples, Portugal has breached the Quioto protocol regarding emissions, they are expected to pay heavy reparations.
Portuguese politicions are renowned for their good intentions or attempts to look good, but failing to come through.
The current government have several projects to revamp the economy, a TGV railway connecting it’s main cities and Spain and a new international airport among others.
Yeah, bravo! I’m a portuguese citizen and this, at least, seems to be something our government is doing right.
However, I remain skeptical and pessimistic. These huge projects our governments get into from time to time are little more than a way for contractors, usually big buddies of the people in power at the time, to make loads of cash. They usually – ok, always – go over budget and schedule, and the results are also much below what was planned.
While I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen here, bear in mind ours is a corrupt country, where politicians and businessmen are only out for themselves and to hell everyone else, while being masters at paying lip service to the public concerns of the day, whatever they may be – right now is ecology. I don’t believe our government is any more ecological or sensible than any other before. I believe this is a great opportunity to make money, and money will be made, by some. Showing results isn’t usually a concern here, and when it comes to accountability, there is no such word in our diccionary! Corrupt politicians and businessmen can get away with murder, and everything is always covered up – there’s quite a few scandals going nowhere slowly around here that prove just that – our country isn’t really a country – just a little farm where a few noblemen feudal lords and the clergy rule over the uneducated masses.
But anyway, even if all goes well, which I doubt, this would only be a first step. Others will need to follow, and also in that respect our tradition is to be left behind, happy and proud that we gave the first step, and then seeing everyone else just overtaking us…
You see, Ireland, Spain, Greece… A little over a decade ago we were all in more or less equal economical terms… Now just see where everyone else is…
Strange that the worlds largest economy (U.S.A. for those who didn’t know) can’t do the same. We have more viable coastline for wave/energy converters than any other nation, we have more viable windfarm land than anybody else (if they solve the temprature issues then Russia and Canada take first and second,) and we have the most flat-top skyscrapers that could use solar energy suplamentry power to reduce there energy needs. and we have the most unused desert capable of holding permanent solar farms (I’m not counting Africa, nobody has the money to build one there.) So the Kyoto accords are staked against us, we would have more moral ground to deny them if we used our current ability to surpass them. Then the rest of the world would be crying that we were setting an unfair standard. And that is exactly what we need to do. We are tasked with leading the free world, so lets get our heads out of the sand and lead for a change.
this sounds really good, but how much power does this plant produce compared to the build and keep-up costs? but at least someone’s going the way 🙂
go portugal!
Yeah, but can they win in International Football?
Well, at least Portugal isn’t in the Group of Death the US team drew.
US? Not gonna happen either way… The Netherlands looks like the strongest team right now. And Germany Poland is going to be a great match between such old friends…
I too am Portuguese, and I disagree with the Luis and Miguels. Corruption exists everywhere, including snowy Canada (where I’m located). To state that corruption or a get rich scheme is at play here is asinine. The fact is, Portugal is extremely dependant on fossil fuel, and it therefore must reevaluate its future energy needs and how it will facilitate those needs. That is why there is currently a move to creating investments in Wind farms and the newly slated solar farm in Alentejo. The fact remains; there is potentially a lot of money to be made in wave power. Possibly extending into the billions, which leaves Portugal in a very advantages position, since it will have first knowledge and know-how of the farm’s operations. There are approximately 8 + million Euros being invested, mostly privately, with tax incentives which suggests that public funding will be minimal, and it will be the free market/ competition that will drive the project and not nepotism and kickbacks. The wave farm will also be plugged into the National electricity grid and therefore generating ROI immediately. I urge everyone to think further ahead, as this project is brand new and needs to be evaluated thoroughly. We should also attempt to avoid creating assumptions as to the transparency of the Portuguese State and allow the life cycle of this project to be completed.
If it is not profitable it wont work. Investers have to make money in order for it to be sustainable. thats just the way it works.
I agree profitability is a great incentive. That it is the biggest problem facing the west. If it doesn’t return more CASH then went into it, then it won’t work.
Take coal fired generators for example. If the cost of the loss of coal mining land and the land rehabilitation, the cost of the sulfur dioxide pollution, particulate matter, and the green house gases produced were taken into consideration, then the cost would be astronomical. But the extra costs for coal fired generators are passed on to consumers through other means so the electricity seems much more economical. This is called the Free Market System. The investor gets the profits, the neighbors get asthma. It’s a great system.
Solar and wind generation is not as dependable as thermal generators, but they are non-polluting and have extremely low operating costs. During peak periods, they could substantially reduce the use of thermal generation.