On July 8, the Basque seaport of Mutriku, located between Bilbao and San Sebastian witnessed a landmark—or more fittingly, a watershed —moment in energy generation history. Utility Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE) officially inaugurated the Mutriku Wave Power Plant— the first worldwide in commercial operation.

Voith Hydro of Heidenheim, Germany, supplied the equipment for Mutriku's 16 power units, which will provide an output of 300 kilowatts (KW) in total —electricity sufficient to power about 250 homes.

The worldwide potential of the ocean’s energy is an estimated 1.8 terawatts (TW) —and still remains largely untapped. To provide some perspective, 3.3 TW represents the total power consumption of the United States in 2005.

"The rising global demand for green energy proves to be a strong catalyst for the implementations of innovative forms of renewable energy. The Mutriku project shows our wave power technology is commercially viable and ready for wide deployment on the global markets," said Dr. Roland Muench, CEO of Voith Hydro Holding. "To further this development, adequate feed-in-tariffs for wave power, as they already exist for a number of renewables, can now set the right legal framework."

Voith Hydro's wave power technology. Building on its long-term proven reliability, continuous design improvement have allowed for developing the technology to its leading-edge performance.

Voith Hydro’s OWC (oscillating water column) technology is the only one that is proven with regard to commercial utilization, combining availability and efficiency on their highest levels. It can be deployed in new and existing breakwaters, and in purpose-built structures. On the Scottish island of Islay, Voith Hydro has been operating the wave power plant Limpet for over a decade on a commercial scale, producing over 65,000 grid-connected hours.