Surf’s Down – Wave Power Travails

Whatever happened to wave power?

Dave Elliot, November 11, 2017 (Environmental Research Web)

“…The average rated capacity of wave energy devices over the past three years (2015-2017) was 70% lower than (in) the period between 2000 and 2014. In contrast tidal stream saw a 124% increase in the average rated capacity during the same period…Many wave devices have been tested and some are still under test, but it has proved harder to extract energy from the often turbulent wave environment than from the relatively calm undersea tidal flows. There have also been funding and program management issues, [according to Examining the Effectiveness of support for UK Wave Energy innovation since 2000: Lost at Sea or a new wave of innovation?. It found] that a major institutional barrier was ‘the overwhelming emphasis on full-scale device demonstration, with a view to ‘fast tracking’ progress to commercial array-scale projects before the underpinning early- to mid-stage R&D had been performed…Underpinning these developments was a poor understanding of the scale of the innovation challenge and the associated time and funds required…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet