Renewable Energy
Catch the next wave
Hydrodynamic simulation helps to deliver two- to three-times wave power efficiency improvement. Bradford S Lamb and Ken Rhinefrank report.
La simulación hidrodinámica contribuye a mejorar entre dos y tres veces la eficiencia de la energía de las olas marinas Informan Bradford S Lamb y Ken Rhinefrank.
Hydrodynamische Simulationen unterstützen die Verbesserung des Wirkungsgrads bei Wellenkraftwerken um den Faktor zwei bis drei. Bradford S Lamb und Ken Rhinefrank berichten.
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Fig. 1. Wave power companies need to advance efficiency and reduce costs of their designs to demonstrate viability to potential investors and customers.
f all the ocean’s energy could be harnessed, it would produce more than 500 times the global energy consumption. Harvesting the ocean’s energy is therefore and attractive proposition - but the technical challenges
are formidable.
Te practical potential for wave energy worldwide is projected to be between 2 trillion and 4 trillion kilowatt hours per year. Te World Energy Council estimates that about 10 per cent of worldwide energy demand could realistically be met by harvesting ocean energy. But wave power is a much less mature technology than solar or wind power or, especially, fossil fuel. A tremendous amount of work lies ahead in optimising the design of wave power systems. Researchers must improve efficiency and reduce costs to the point that these systems can make a major contribution to meeting global energy requirements.
Wave power generation systems Columbia Power Technologies (Columbia Power), LLC, is attempting to harness this potential by developing commercially viable and scalable wave power generation systems. In conjunction with Oregon State University, the company is working to develop and commercialise innovative wave energy harvesting devices. Tere are several key advantages of wave power which include:
● Power density: Wave power is much denser than other renewable energy systems, enabling wave parks to produce large amounts of power from a relatively small footprint.
● Predictability: Te supply of energy from wave power can be accurately forecast several days in advance, enabling utilities to make precise sourcing plans.
● Constancy: Unlike solar power, which produces energy only when the sun is shining, ocean swells are available 24 hours per day.
● Proximity to load centers: Wave energy will not require substantial buildout of transmission mcapacity, since 37 per cent of the world’s population live within 60 miles of a shoreline, and 70 per cent reside within 200 miles.
Te wave power industry, however, faces a major challenge since product developers have much less experience in the design of wave power devices relative to other renewable energy systems. Wave power companies need to rapidly advance efficiency and reduce costs of their designs to demonstrate viability to potential investors and customers. Other industries have taken decades or longer to develop technology to the point of commercial viability. But the wave power industry does not have that kind of time. To achieve its goals, it needs to rapidly improve designs while conserving limited capital. Columbia Power is focusing on development of direct-drive systems, which avoid the use of
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