Há mar e mar, há ir e voltar... e no caso da energia das ondas em Portugal o mar tem grandes mistérios. Por exemplo, a propósito desta central de ondas alguém sabe explicar o que passou ou o que tem a ver com esta outra central que estava quase a funcionar e depois deixou de existir?
Portugal orgulha-se de ser líder de uma das fontes de energia menos competitivas: Mais um grande projecto! Tão bom que apenas é viável com o apoio (não declarado) dos contribuintes. Ah! E vai-nos fazer companhia durante uns bons anos na factura da electricidade.
Portugal embraces wave power: Suddenly a lonely spot on the Portuguese coast has become the centre of the wave power industry. [...]
Two more wave machines should soon be in position, making three in all. At full production the company says they will be able to generate enough power for 1,500 homes.
And 25 more machines are on order for Portugal.
Making waves: UK firm harnesses power of the sea... in Portugal
Lisbon is keener on the sea-snake than the country in which it was invented
The world's first commercial-scale wave-power station has gone live off the coast of Portugal. [...]
"The future of wave energy starts today," said Manuel Pinho, Portugal's minister of economy and innovation. "Finland is very good in mobile phones; Portugal wants to be good in renewable energy. We are among the top five in the world, and we are just in the beginning of the process.
"Renewable energy is the source of energy for the future and we think this can create an industrial revolution and a lot of opportunities for jobs and research," he said, "and we want to be ahead of the curve."
Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, said the British government's energy secretary, John Hutton, should take urgent note of the developments in Portugal. "Wave technology invented in Scotland is powering Portuguese homes and making money for Portuguese suppliers, because our government has consistently neglected the renewables industry here in the UK." [...]
The €9m (£7m) first phase of the Aguçadoura project, which involves the energy firms Enersis and Energias de Portugal, has been helped partly by the Portuguese government agreeing to guarantee a premium for the electricity the station will generate via a feed-in tariff of 25 cents per kWh. The project has also been given a €1.25m grant from the Portuguese Agência de Inovação.
