Engineering firm JP Kenny, part of John Wood Group PLC, has been chosen by the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) to oversee the design, procurement and construction of the Wave Hub renewable energy project. Should it run to its proposed schedule, it will be producing electricity from wave power in commercial quantities by 2010.

The Wave Hub is essentially a socket that will sit on the seabed floor approximately 10 miles off the coast of Cornwall. The Wave Hub is envisioned to consist of a cable termination and distribution unit connected to four underwater power connection units. Feeding into the Wave Hub will be  up to 30 wave energy devices sitting either on or just under the surface of the water. The electricity will then be transported to shore via an undersea cable that will be connected to a new substation at Hayle.

At this stage there are four wave device developers working with the RDA on the project: Oceanlinx, Ocean Power Technologies Ltd. (PowerBuoy), Fred Olsen Ltd. and WestWave. The project will also employ the technology that has been developed by Pelamis Wave Power Ltd.

This is a £28m development and is set to become the largest wave energy farm in the world. When it moves into production it will have an initial capacity of 8MW with a capability to increase that to 20MW.

An environmental impact assessment has been carried out into the impact of laying 15.5 miles of cable, the impacts of the wave energy devices on marine ecology, fisheries, recreational users and navigation. Still to be carried out are detailed environmental assessments and legal permits. The project is subject to gaining all necessary approvals and funding.

The project is being part financed by the government, the EU and the South West Regional Development Agency.

JP Kenny will now spend the next few months working on concept designs for Wave Hub with the detailed designs expected to be ready by May 2009.