Power Surf

After ten years in the works, Pelamis Wave Power, an Edinburgh-based company, has created the Pelamis "wave snakes", forming the first commercial wave farm. 140m long, these red tubes float on the ocean three miles off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal, creating enough clean electricity to power 1,000 homes- in its first phase.



Ranking among the top five countries leading the way in renewable energy, Portugal's economics minister, Manuel Pinho, commented, "We are just in the beginning of the process...we want to be ahead of the curve." Eventually, they hope to add 25 more Pelamis machines, generating enough clean energy to save 60,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.