Creating Energy from Waves

The Waves formed in the oceans and seas are highly powerful and carry tremendous volumes of energy. It is estimated that the waves breaking around the world’s coastlines is estimated at 2-3 million megawatts. The most prominent and commonly used technologies in ocean wave power creation are the point absorbers which capture energy directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface. These point absorbers resemble offshore buoys that measure environmental data except they are larger.

Besides point absorbers, many new innovations have come up that help in converting waves into electricity. New technologies include using the vertical motion of the waves to pump pressurized sea water into a turbine or even pumped onshore to drive osmotic desalination processes.

The wave technology is based on well-understood principles derived from hydrodynamic physics and mechanical and electrical engineering. Tides and marine currents are 832 times denser than the air flowing over wind turbines and are predictable up to the minute at least 100 years in advance. Wave action could power as much as 10 percent of the world’s electrical demand someday.