The world's first commercial scale wave power generator has been built in a rocky bay on the island of Islay off the Scottish coast by Wavegen and researchers from Queen's University (Belfast). It generates 500 Kwh of electricity at a cost of nearly six pence per kilowatt/hour. Despite this being three times the cost of electricity generated by burning fossil fuels, the scheme has won a 15 year contract with Scottish & Southern Energy. This is because power companies will be legally obliged to source 10% of their electricity from renewable resources by 2010 and because they are confident that unit costs will fall as the technology is developed.

The concept is simple. As waves crash into the Limpet 500's concrete structure, seawater rushes into a column pushing air before it. As the air compresses it drives turbines which generate electricity. As the wave recedes it sucks water out of the column, creating a vacuum which sucks air the other way through the turbines, again generating electricity.

Studies from the European Commission suggest that harnessing just 1% of the wave energy around Britain's coast could supply its entire energy requirements.