A planning application has been submitted for a new wave power station on the Isle of Lewis in the UK. The Siadar Bay Wave Energy Project aims to generate 4MW of electricity by harnessing the power in the waves of Siadar Bay.

The project is a joint scheme between npower renewables, one of the UK’s leading renewable energy developers and operators and Wavegen, a world leading wave energy and wave power specialist based in Inverness, Scotland.

The energy that would be produced by the project would supply the needs of around 1,500 homes in the surrounding area.

The Wavegen technology used is called “oscillating water column”. Ocean waves move air in and out of chambers in a breakwater, which in turn drives Wavegen’s turbine, known as the Wells turbine, to generate electricity.

The commencement of the project depends on the approval of the Scottish Government and, once that is attained, construction could begin in 2009. It is expected that the project will take 18 months to complete and will generate up to 50 jobs. This gives us a possible timeframe of power from the project being on-line by the end of 2010.

Bill Langley, Marine Development Manager for npower renewables said: “We remain convinced that the SWEP could be the gateway to harnessing the best wave resource in the UK. This pilot scheme could be the stepping stone to realising large-scale wave energy projects around the UK and worldwide.”