A Feasibility Study - Aaltodoc - Aalto-yliopisto

2.3 Wave energy resource
The global wave energy resource is somewhat difficult to determine. Depending on the
source, varying figures can be found: 2 TW, 1 – 10 TW and 3,7 TW (Thorpe 1999,
World Energy Council 2010, Mørk et al. 2010). Furthermore, a new and thorough report
gives a value of 2,11 ± 0,05 TW with the confidence of 95 % (Gunn, Stock-Williams
2012). Thus it can be stated that the global wave energy resource is over 2 TW, or 17
520 TWh. To give perspective, the global electricity demand in the year 2010 was
approximately 21 000 TWh (BP 2011).
Wave power can be a significant source of energy in the future, at least according to the
available global wave resource. But not all of the resource is economically or practically
exploitable. Some resources are too small to be of economic benefit and some might
consist mainly of violent storms, which are impossible to utilize (Cornett 2008). Indeed,
the economically exploitable resource has been estimated from 850 TWh (Gunn, Stock-
Williams 2012) to 2000 TWh (Thorpe 1999) annually, depending on the state of the
technology.
The global distribution of wave power resource (in units of kW/m of wave) is expressed
in the following Figures 6 and 7. From these figures, two clear observations can be
made. First, the areas with the highest wave resource are located in western Europe,
western North America, southern Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Second, the least yearly variations in wave power are on the areas on the southern
hemisphere.
Figure 6. Annual average wave resource (kW/m of wave front). Adapted from Thorpe (1999).
9