Anyone looking out to sea should be able to see the awesome potential energy that moves it every day. Waves have been breaking along our shorelines for hundreds of millions of years, powered by the simple force of wind. Yet only now are humans beginning to see the possibility of wave power.
Underneath it all, waves are movements of elliptical patterns of water molecules. They have a horizontal component as well as a vertical one. So there a few ways of harnessing energy.
Currently a popular method of wave energy harnessing is using Pelamis machines. These are long tubes which float on the surface and contain hydraulic pumps which pass fluid through their structure to a motor, all due to the wave action. They are in use in Scotland and Portugal, and there is a growing interest in the technology. The Scotland project is to generate 50Mw of energy.
Another method involves using tethered buoys which use their bobbing action in the wave to generate electricity. These are relatively new and require further testing before any large scale projects are committed.
The disadvantages of wave power are that it’s unpredictable. Waves are caused due to wind movement and if you’ve ever been outside you know how conditions change and how often they do. There are also concerns to wildlife which may be disturbed by the machines or their action. This needs to be studied but it’s not much different than the bird collision issue with wind turbines, which we didn’t know were that much of a problem until after the turbines were constructed.
But despite it’s minor disadvantages, wave power could be a future potential energy source. It’s abundant and as infinite as we can get for a power source on Earth.
