List of wave power projects
[6][7] The Sustainable Energy Research Group at the University of Southampton were involved in developing the device, including tank testing a 1:30 scale model at the DHI basin.
[11] CalWave Power Technologies, Inc. based in California, is developing a submerged pressure differential wave energy device, which can operate at various water depths and distance from shore.
This allows it to follow the waves, using the motion of the two floats to convert both kinetic and potential energy to electricity by a mechanical power take-off system.
[27] In November 2022, a team from IIT Madras demonstrated the Sindhuja-I ocean wave energy converter about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi; 3.2 nmi) off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.
[38] The OE Buoy is a floating oscillating water column WEC with an air turbine, developed by Ocean Energy Ltd. in Cork, Ireland since 2002.
[42]Developed by Finnish company AW-Energy, the device is submerged hinged flap, or oscillating wave surge converter (OWSC).
[43][44] The following projects or technologies do not appear to actively being developed, with no updates in several years, however formal announcement of cessation is not clear.
[58] Initially working with smaller devices and arrays, the company was targeting off grid markets where diesel generation is presently used in offshore fish farms, coastal communities and long endurance scientific platforms.
A power take-off (PTO) is situated on top of the pendulum with electricity generated and dissipated locally through immersion heaters submerged in the seawater.
[63] Atmocean Inc., based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA developed an array of small buoys that capture wave energy for a zero-electricity reverse/osmosis (ZER/O) system.
Each buoy uses passing waves to pump seawater into the system and send it onshore where it goes directly into a reverse osmosis desalination process without the need for an external energy source.
Using actual wave data off the South African coast it was estimated that a single device would produce 1.4 MW of power, or 979 GWh of electricity per annum.
[76] Wave energy is captured with multiple float-pistons constrained to move vertically up and down piles, informally called "doughnut on a stick".
It was designed to provide power for “free floating” buoy systems deployed in Distributed Sensor Networks by the submarine fleet of the U.S. Navy.
[84][85] In October 2016, Sea Power planned to deploy a 1/4 scale prototype at the Marine & Renewable Energy Test Site in Galway Bay.
[97][98] The concept was claimed to have low lifecycle cost and be easier to deploy and maintain due to the self-propulsion by advanced controls with minimal tug power.
Rubber membranes on the outer faces would deform as waves pass, moving air inside chambers which in turn drive air-turbines to generate electricity.
The device used hose-pumps, a high pressure accumulator, and a Pelton hydro turbine to convert wave motion into electrical power.
[111] In July 2010 Finavera announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell all assets and intellectual property related to the AquaBuOY wave energy technology.
[116][117] Oceanlinx was an Australian company that developed shoreline and offshore oscillating water column wave energy plants with variable-pitch bladed air turbines.
[119] In May 2010, the wave energy generator snapped from its mooring lines in extreme seas and sank on Port Kembla's eastern breakwater.
In November 2009, the first full-scale demonstrator Oyster began producing power at the European Marine Energy Centre's wave test site at Billia Croo in Orkney.
This was a 40 kW Oscillating Water Column (OWC) with tandem Wells turbines, constructed on the coast of Sanze, Tsuruoka, Japan in 1982.
[132][133] It was the first full-scale wave energy device constructed (apart from the French OWC installation on the top of a natural cliff in 1910, and operated for six months with good results.
[135][136] A breakwater-based wave machine, this device utilises the vertical pumping motion of buoys operating hydraulic rams, thereby powering generators.
Waves cause the float to rise and fall, generating pressurized water, which is piped to reservoirs onshore which then drive hydro-electric turbines.
Constructed by Kværner Brug AS in 1985, the plant had a 500 kW self-rectifying Wells turbine with electric generator, and operated for four years before it was destroyed by a severe winter storm.
A prototype, 20 m × 18 m × 8 m weighing 110 tonnes, was towed to Hanstholm for testing in March 2009 and temporarily moored, but ended up stranded on the shore the following day.
[161] The unit was modified and reinstalled early 2017 as part of the Horizon 2020 funded Clean Energy From Ocean Waves (CEFOW) research project.
It is located approximately 10 miles (16 km; 8.7 nmi) off the coast of Hayle, Cornwall, UK After seven years of development, the hub was installed on the seabed in September 2010.
