Energias de Portugal has removed its Pelamis wave energy installation from the site of its proposed Agucadoura wave park off the coast of Portugal. The unit experienced a number of technical issues and had to be dismantled after only a few weeks in the water.

According to this article from AFP, here’s what went wrong:

"There was a recurrent problem with the movements of the hydraulic screws in the three machines, and this is why they have been removed from deep water," Rui Barros, who is one of those in charge of the Agucadoura wave park told AFP.

But, on inspection, "we saw that the problem was serious, generalised, and not incidental."

In another obstacle to developing a wave energy system for the wave park, Babcock & Brown, a major investor in the company, is about to declare bankruptcy.

However, EDP is not ready to give up on wave energy just yet, and plans to use either an updated version of the Pelamis technology or one of two or three other existing technologies.