Yemm invented the so-called “sea snake” while working on his doctoral degree at the University of Edinburgh. To this point, his company has achieved several firsts. In addition to the breakthrough of generating electric power that was routed through an undersea cable to the Portuguese coastal town of Aguçadoura, Pelamis is still the only company to sell wave energy converters to UK utility firms.
Pelamis’s generator—three long canisters linked by hinged joints that push hydraulic rams that pump high-pressure oil through turbines inside the canisters—was first tested at the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC), which is located amid the Orkney Islands off Scotland’s northeastern coast.