Technologies
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Pelamis at Aguçadoura, Portugal OEBuoy - Ocean Energy Ltd
OWC Pico Plant, Azores, Portugal |
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The technology to exploit Wave Energy has presently reached the initial phase of demonstration, after 30 years of R&D. However, contrarily to wind energy, where only one concept remained – one turbine with a horizontal axis with three blades – there still exist a large amount of concepts competing in wave energy. Tests on sea of pilot plants and prototypes Different wave energy exploitation systems have been tested at sea, both pilot plants and prototypes: OWC Pico Plant (WavEC, Portugal), OWC LIMPET Plant (Wavegen, United Kingdom), AWS (Teamwork Technology, 2004/ The Netherlands), Wave Dragon (Wave Dragon ApS/Denmark), Pelamis (Ocean Power Delivery Ltd/United Kingdom), Powerbuoy (Ocean Power Technologies/ USA), Parabolic OWC Plant with Deniss-Auld turbine (Oceanlinx/Australia), AquaBuOY (Finavera Renewables/Canada), OEbuoy (Ocean Energy Ltd/Ireland), WaveBob (Wavebob Ltd/Ireland), FO3 (Fobox/ Norway), WaveRoller (AW-Energy Oy/Finland) and Wave Star (Wave Star Energy/Denmark). Other systems exists on a less developed phase, however may be tested at sea in the coming years. Pre-commercial state of technology Some of these companies have already plans to install the next units in other countries. Two projects with a commercial contract are currently at their final stage to start deploying the wave energy units. One project has been already installed at the end of 2008 namely three Pelamis units of the Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power (former OPD) at the western coast of Portugal (total power of 2.25 MW), a contract with the Portuguese ENERSIS company. Another project promoted by Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE) has the intention to integrate 16 OWC chambers of the Scottish company Wavegen into the new breakwater of Mutriky at the Bask Region (total power of 296 kW). The third project is the installation of 10 devices of the American Powerbuoy in Cantábria, Spain (total power of 1.4 MW), a contract with the multination Iberdrola Renewables. Today we witness a fast growing of industry interested in wave energy with new participants in this sector, some of which are multinational companies. On the other hand, in the last years and in several countries, new mechanisms have been taken place. For the investors it is important to acknowledge the technology, the several teams responsible for the development of the technology, expected capital costs for the first farm, i.e. acquire a global vision of the sector in order to make decisions for a possible involvement. WavEC’s role Since 2004, the WavEC has developed with some regularity reports addressed to companies interested in the existing opportunities of the wave energy market. The WavEC keep an actualized data base of all wave energy technologies e its state of development.
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Wave Technology Types
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Attenuator |
Oscillating Water Column (OWC) |
Overtopping Device |
Oscillating Wave Surge Converters (OWSC) |
(Axisymmetrical) Point Absorber |
Submerged Pressure Differential |
Animations developed for AquaRET project, a network of 7 European partners and coordinated by AquaTT (Ireland).
List of current main Wave Energy Devices
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Device Name |
Main promotor |
Device type |
Country of origin |
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Ocean Navitas Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Aquaenergy group |
Offshore |
Canada (originally Ireland; Aquaenergy group: USA; technologies developed in Sweden) | |
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AWS Ocean Energy Ltd |
Offshore submerged |
The Netherlands | |
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BioPower Systems Pty. Ltd |
Nearshore |
Australia | |
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Brandl Motor |
Near- & Offshore |
Germany | |
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Seapower Pacific Pty Ltd |
Nearshore |
Australia | |
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C-Wave Limited |
Near-& Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Columbia Power Technologies |
Near- & Offshore |
USA | |
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EGWAP (Electricity Generated Wave Pipe) |
Able Technologies |
Nearshore |
USA |
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FO3 |
Fobox AS |
Offshore |
Norway |
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Applied Technologies Company, Ltd |
Offshore |
Russia | |
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Sea Power International AB |
Near- & Offshore |
Sweden | |
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Generator utilizing patented electroactive polymer artificial muscle (EPAM™) technology |
SRI International |
Offshore |
USA
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Langlee Wave Power |
Nearshore |
Norway | |
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Swell Fuel |
Offshore |
USA | |
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Seabased AB |
Near- & Offshore |
Sweden | |
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University of Manchester Intellectual Property Ltd (UMIP) |
Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Martifer |
Offshore |
Portugal | |
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McCabe Wave Pump (MWP) |
Hydam Technology Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
Ireland |
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MHD Neptune |
Neptune Systems |
Offshore submerged |
The Netherlands |
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Sara Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
USA | |
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Leancon Wave Energy |
Multi Absorbing Wave Energy Converter (MAWEC) / Near- & Offshore |
Denmark | |
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Multi Resonant Chamber (MRC) wave energy converter - MRC 1000 |
ORECon Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
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Ocean Energy Ldt. |
Near- & Offshore |
Ireland | |
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OceanStar ocean power system |
Bourne Energy |
Unclear |
USA |
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Ocean Motion International LLC |
Near- & Offshore |
USA | |
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Ocean Wave Energy Company |
Offshore |
USA | |
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Offshore Wave Energy Limited |
Near- & Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Aquamarine Power Ltd |
Nearshore submerged but surface-piercing |
United Kingdom | |
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Pelagic Power AS |
Nearshore |
Norway | |
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Pelamis Wave Power |
Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Wave Energy Centre (WaVEC) |
Onshore |
Portugal | |
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Floating Power Plant ApS (F.P.P.) |
Near- & Offshore |
Denmark | |
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Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (OPT) |
Offshore |
USA | |
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PS FROG |
Lancaster University |
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SDE Energy Ltd. |
Onshore; structure-mounted |
Israel | |
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Salter's Duck |
University of Edinburgh |
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Independent Natural Resources, Inc (INRI) |
Nearshore |
USA | |
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Seaheart |
Oceanic Power |
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Spain |
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WAVEenergy AS |
Onshore |
Norway | |
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Wavegen (wholly owned subsidiary of Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation) |
Shoreline OWC |
United Kingdom | |
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Embley Energy Limited |
Near- & Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Seawood Designs Inc |
Near- & Offshore |
Canada | |
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SyncWave™ Energy Inc. |
Near- & Offshore |
Canada | |
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Système Autonome Electrique de Récupération de l'Energie des Vagues (SEAREV) |
SeaRev (Consortium being built, starting from Ecole Centrale de Nantes) |
Offshore |
France |
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TETRON |
Joules Energy Efficiency Services Ltd |
Offshore; details unclear |
Ireland |
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Trident Energy Limited |
Near- & Offshore; ideally structure-mounted |
United Kingdom | |
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Wave Catcher |
Offshore Islands Limited |
Offshore structure-mounted |
USA |
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Wave Dragon Aps |
Near- & Offshore |
Denmark | |
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SeaVolt Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
USA | |
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Ecofys BV |
Near- & Offshore; ideally structure-mounted |
The Netherlands | |
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Wave Star Energy ApS |
Near- & Offshore |
Denmark | |
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Waveberg™ Development Limited |
Nearshore |
USA | |
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WaveBlanket |
Wind Waves And Sun |
Near- & Offshore |
USA |
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Wavebob Ltd. |
Offshore |
Ireland | |
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Oceanlinx Ltd. |
Onshore & Nearshore |
Australia | |
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Ocean WaveMaster Limited |
Near- & Offshore |
United Kingdom | |
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Wavemill |
Wavemill Energy Corporation |
Onshore |
Canada |
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WavePlane Production A/S – (now) WPP A/S |
Near- & Offshore |
Denmark | |
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AW Energy Oy |
Nearshore submerged |
Finland | |
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DAEDALUS Informatics Ltd |
Near- & Offshore |
Greece | |
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Wave Energy Technologies Inc. |
Near- & Offshore |
Canada | |
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WET-NZ |
Near- & Offshore |
New Zealand |