For 200 years, man has harnessed the energy of the waves. Indeed, Victor Hugo, a French novelist (1802-1885), wrote about a buoy which rings a bell to warn navigators of navigation hazards. Then, during the second half of the 19th century, the bell was replaced by a piston which activates a whistle with the same period of that of the waves. However, the first concept of a buoy converting the wave energy into electricity was done in 1910 by Bochaux-Praceique in order to supply power for his house in Royan, France.
It is only after the 1973 oil crisis that scientists really started to focus on alternative energy and developed more than 300 different concepts of wave converter. More recent concerns about climate change and global warning have only increased the interest in harnessing wave energy.
At the beginning of the 21st century, scientists have started to develop efficient wave energy conversion systems that we are going to focus on in this research project. Nowadays the wave energy converter can reach a rated power output of 800 kW (the rated power output of a wind turbine is around 3 MW).
First of all, we must understand that 95% of the wave energy is located at the water surface. Wave energy is present majorly in the water surface movement. There are plenty of wave energy converter devices that could be used. For the purposes of determining overall status, the stages of the ocean energy RD&D process have been defined in terms of the following activities:
Despite this large variation in design, WECs are generally categorized based on principle to few major types. Here we go through a few which went through to full scale prototype demonstration stage. We discuss how they function and determine the pros and cons of each type. Finally, our project will help us find the perfect spot in the US coast for each device.
The 3 devices we focus on are :
It is only after the 1973 oil crisis that scientists really started to focus on alternative energy and developed more than 300 different concepts of wave converter. More recent concerns about climate change and global warning have only increased the interest in harnessing wave energy.
At the beginning of the 21st century, scientists have started to develop efficient wave energy conversion systems that we are going to focus on in this research project. Nowadays the wave energy converter can reach a rated power output of 800 kW (the rated power output of a wind turbine is around 3 MW).
First of all, we must understand that 95% of the wave energy is located at the water surface. Wave energy is present majorly in the water surface movement. There are plenty of wave energy converter devices that could be used. For the purposes of determining overall status, the stages of the ocean energy RD&D process have been defined in terms of the following activities:
- Concept design
- Detailed design
- Part-scale model testing – tank testing
- Part-scale model testing – sea trials
- Full-scale or near full-scale prototype demonstration – single device at sea
- Full-scale prototype demonstration – multiple devices at sea
Despite this large variation in design, WECs are generally categorized based on principle to few major types. Here we go through a few which went through to full scale prototype demonstration stage. We discuss how they function and determine the pros and cons of each type. Finally, our project will help us find the perfect spot in the US coast for each device.
The 3 devices we focus on are :
- Attenuator
- Point Absorber
- Tidal Barrage