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Wave Energy is an emerging renewable<br />
Energy Source with a big Potential<br />
By Per Resen Steenstrup,<br />
www.WaveStarEnergy.com<br />
Wave energy is an old story. People have<br />
tried to harness the power in waves for more<br />
than 100 years, without much luck, even<br />
though more than 500 million EUR have<br />
been spent worldwide on demonstrators.<br />
However over the last 3 to 5 years new ways<br />
of doing things have led to new technical<br />
solutions, which look so promising that<br />
commercialisation is now within reach.<br />
Wave energy is interesting, because it is an<br />
unlimited fairly stable energy source, which<br />
is placed at sea, 5 to 15 km offshore, in<br />
areas away from shipping lanes and fishing<br />
areas. At sea it does not take up much space,<br />
has practically no visual impact and no<br />
known negative environmental impact on<br />
the habitants of the sea. On the contrary, it<br />
seems to attract life as a sanctuary.<br />
The major technical break through has become<br />
a reality, mainly because of new simple<br />
storm protection schemes, simple basic<br />
designs for reliability which can deal with<br />
the harsh environment and system costs per<br />
MW, which in turn can be cost engineered<br />
to compete with wind turbines. The electricity<br />
production cost per MW is expected to<br />
be comparable to offshore wind turbines or<br />
even smaller, depending on the location.<br />
It is expected in the future, that offshore<br />
wind turbine farms can be combined with<br />
wave energy systems on a big scale, mainly<br />
due to utilization of a common high voltage<br />
line ashore, bringing down costs. Also wave<br />
energy devices dampen the waves inside an<br />
offshore wind farm, making the wind turbines<br />
more accessible with boats for more<br />
days per year.<br />
When will commercialisation<br />
take off on a big scale?<br />
There are different opinions about the<br />
above question. Some state beyond 2030,<br />
bot others including the author, believe it<br />
will happen much earlier, maybe 7 to 10<br />
6 <strong>Offshore</strong> <strong>Center</strong> Denmark<br />
Newsletter <strong>ON</strong>/<strong>OFF</strong> 10 - May 2007<br />
Wave Star in normal operation. The converter is normally oriented towards the dominant<br />
wave direction. When the wave passes it produces an even energy output.<br />
Wave Star in storm protection mode<br />
years from know, due to several facts. Wave<br />
energy does not have to pave the same long<br />
route for political acceptance as wind power<br />
has been through. There is a very strong<br />
technical synergy between wind power and<br />
wave energy. They both use the same skills<br />
and manufacturing technologies, except for<br />
minor differences. The world market is more<br />
than ripe for new renewable energy sources,<br />
due to global warming and soaring energy<br />
demand.
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