Wave energy has an estimated global potential of 3.7 TW, almost double that of current world electrical energy consumption, and has, to date, remained virtually untapped [1]. Wave also has a relatively low correlation with, for example, wind AQ1 and solar [2], meaning that a balance of wave with other renewable technologies can offer greater consistency of supply. Despite these attractive features, the drive to make wave energy economic has made relatively poor progress, due to a combination of the following factors: the ocean environment is hostile, wave energy is reciprocating (rather than unidirectional, therefore requiring rectification) and variable, and the technology is still in its relative infancy. These difficulties are manifest in the current unattractively high levelized cost of energy (LCoE) for wave energy, currently estimated at €225/MW h compared to the LCoE for offshore wind, for example, at €165/MW h [3]. This chapter examines the various facets of wave energy, including resource quantification and wave measurement (Section 2.1), the wide variety of onshore and offshore wave energy devices (Section 2.2), the variety of power take-off (PTO) mechanisms which convert wave power into other useful forms (Section 2.3) and concluding with some insight to how wave energy devices are modelled and controlled (Section 2.4).While this chapter can only give a limited overview of the challenges and some potential solutions to successfully harness wave energy, it belies the truly vast and diverse array of prototype wave energy converter (WEC) devices [4]. This diversity demonstrates the lack of technology convergence in WEC design and, combined with the multitude of PTO modalities described in Section 2.3, the potential variety of wave energy systems is truly broad. Nevertheless, from the overview and examples presented in this chapter, it is hoped that the reader will gain a better understanding of the challenges, and potential benefits, of adding wave energy to the current mix of commercial renewable energy technologies.

Renewable Energy from the Oceans: From wave, tidal and gradient systems to offshore wind and solar

D. Vicinanza;P. Contestabile.
2019

Abstract

Wave energy has an estimated global potential of 3.7 TW, almost double that of current world electrical energy consumption, and has, to date, remained virtually untapped [1]. Wave also has a relatively low correlation with, for example, wind AQ1 and solar [2], meaning that a balance of wave with other renewable technologies can offer greater consistency of supply. Despite these attractive features, the drive to make wave energy economic has made relatively poor progress, due to a combination of the following factors: the ocean environment is hostile, wave energy is reciprocating (rather than unidirectional, therefore requiring rectification) and variable, and the technology is still in its relative infancy. These difficulties are manifest in the current unattractively high levelized cost of energy (LCoE) for wave energy, currently estimated at €225/MW h compared to the LCoE for offshore wind, for example, at €165/MW h [3]. This chapter examines the various facets of wave energy, including resource quantification and wave measurement (Section 2.1), the wide variety of onshore and offshore wave energy devices (Section 2.2), the variety of power take-off (PTO) mechanisms which convert wave power into other useful forms (Section 2.3) and concluding with some insight to how wave energy devices are modelled and controlled (Section 2.4).While this chapter can only give a limited overview of the challenges and some potential solutions to successfully harness wave energy, it belies the truly vast and diverse array of prototype wave energy converter (WEC) devices [4]. This diversity demonstrates the lack of technology convergence in WEC design and, combined with the multitude of PTO modalities described in Section 2.3, the potential variety of wave energy systems is truly broad. Nevertheless, from the overview and examples presented in this chapter, it is hoped that the reader will gain a better understanding of the challenges, and potential benefits, of adding wave energy to the current mix of commercial renewable energy technologies.
2019
Vicinanza, D.; Contestabile, Pasquale
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11591/418603
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