Sustainable Energy

Wave Energy

Prof. Ing. Francesco Corvaro

Email: f.corvaro@univpm.it

Introduction
• Ocean waves are primarily the result of the interaction
between wind and the sea surface.

• Like wind energy, wave energy is primarily a manifestation

of solar energy.

• Waves occur everywhere in the oceans, but some

locations on earth are more likely to have larger waves
than others.

• Figure shows the average wave power available at various

locations worldwide.

Introduction
 Introduction
• Typically, the larger wave energies are over 50 kW/m averaged over the year.

• Areas with wave energies much below this value are probably not
economically viable.

• For a region with an average wave energy of 50 kW/m, a facility that

extracts the energy from 20 m of wave front could theoretically have an
average output of as much as 1 MW.

• The more industrialized regions where wave power is attractive are the
southern coast of Australia and the Atlantic coast of Norway, the United
Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal.

• Much of the activity in wave energy development occurs in these countries,

although there are also signi cant activities elsewhere, such as in Canada,
the United States, China, Denmark, and Japan.

Energy from Waves

• A schematic of an ocean wave in cross section is shown
in Figure.

Energy from Waves

• The wave amplitude is A, and the wavelength is .

• A water wave has energy associated with it for two reasons:

• (1) It is moving, so it carries kinetic energy, and

• (2) the surface of the water is not at, so that potential

energy is associated with the raising of some of the water
above the at surface and the lowering of some water
below the surface.

• It is easiest to consider the potential energy in detail.

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 Energy from Waves
• As illustrated in Figure, the wave is formed by raising the
surface on the left side of the gure and depressing the
surface on the right side.

• If the wave is modeled as an ideal sine wave, it can be

created by merely ipping the water in the darker blue
portion of the wave above the zero level to form the
lighter blue portion.

• The area of the portion of the wave above the zero level is
found by integrating a sine wave of wavelength l and an
amplitude over half a wavelength.

Energy from Waves

• This area is A / . Thus, the mass of this half wave per

unit length in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the
gure (and the direction of propagation of the wave) is

• where is the water density. The center of gravity of this

half wave is a distance h above the zero level. From some
simple geometry, h can be calculated to be

Energy from Waves

• Thus the formation of the wave from a at surface by ipping
over the lower portion of the wave to form the upper portion
of the wave corresponds to moving a mass, as given in
equation, vertically upward by a distance of Δh = 2h. The
potential energy (per unit length of the wave front) associated
with this process is

• It can be determined (although not very easily) that the kinetic

energy of a water wave per unit length is equal to its potential
energy per unit length. Thus the total energy associated with
the wave is equal to twice that given in equation
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 Energy from Waves
• This is the energy content of one full wavelength of the
wave. If a device is utilized to convert this wave energy
into a usable form (e.g., electricity), then the energy
content of one wavelength of the wave is incident on the
device during one period of the wave. It can be shown
that the period of a water wave, T, is related to its
wavelength by the expression

• Substituting this expression into equation gives

Energy from Waves

• Since we are primarily concerned with the power generated, which is the energy per unit
time, then the left-hand side of equation is divided by the wave period to give the power per
unit length of the wave front as

• Note that in this expression the amplitude A, as shown in Figure, is one-half of the crest to
trough height of the wave, H, i.e. H = 2A. Equation is, therefore, often written in terms of the
wave height as

• Using the density of seawater ( = 1025 kg/m3) and appropriate values for the constants in
equation, the power in kW per meter is related to the wave height in meters, and the period
in seconds and is expressed as

• Equation also gives the wave’s velocity. As it travels a distance of l in time T, its velocity is

Wave power Devices

• Devices to extract energy from ocean waves can be located
onshore, where they obtain energy from breaking waves, or
they can be o shore and extract energy from waves as they
propagate in the ocean.

• From a practical standpoint, facilities are best located on the

shore or at least not far o shore.

• Facilities near shore can be connected via transmission

cables, as is the case for o shore wind farms, and this has
been found to be fairly practical.

• Connection of onshore facilities is straightforward.

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 Wave power Devices
• Facilities that are far o shore need an appro-priate
mechanism for transporting the generated electricity back
to shore.

• Energy storage mechanisms, such as batteries or

hydrogen, are either expensive or have low e ciency.

• Unfortunately, the e ciency of wave power devices is

fairly low, and the actual (electrical) energy output is
substantially less than the theoretical wave energy.

Wave power Devices

• For an o shore device, the situation is somewhat like that
for a wind turbine; to extract all of the kinetic energy from
a wave, the wave has to be stopped.

• For an onshore device, the problem is that waves lose

energy as they approach shore due to interaction with the
sea oor.

• At a water depth of 20 m, a typical wave has lost over

60% of the energy it had in deep water.

Wave power Devices

• There are three main approaches to the development of

devices for harnessing wave power:

• oscillating water columns are primarily onshore devices

while oats and pitching devices, as well as wave
focusing devices, are typically located o shore.
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 Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• Oscillating water columns are devices that are typically
permanently attached to the shoreline or anchored close to
shore. Onshore units have been constructed in Scotland, and
near-shore units have been developed in Australia.

Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• The basic design of the OWC is shown in Figure.

• The device is positioned onshore or near-shore, and,

because waves are incident on the device, the level of the
water in the wave chamber rises.

• When the height of the water column rises, then air is

pushed out through a turbine, which drives a generator to
produce electricity.

• When the water level in the wave chamber falls, then air is
pulled in through the turbine.

Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
 Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• A typical wind turbine is designed so that, if air ows in one
direction, the turbine rotates in one direction, and, if the air
ows in the opposite direction, the turbine rotates in the
opposite direction.

• This situation is acceptable for a traditional wind turbine

because, if the direction of the wind changes, then this is a
slow process, and the wind turbine can be rotated to ensure
that the turbine always faces into the wind.

• The problem with the OWC is that the direction of air ow

changes with the periodicity of the ocean waves, which
might be about 10 seconds.

Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• The practical solution to this problem is to design a turbine
that always rotates in the same direction regardless of the
direction of the air ow.

• There are two approaches to the design of such a device:

the variable pitch turbine and the Wells turbine.

• Wind turbines are often variable pitch devices where the

blade can be rotated on its axis (the axis along the length of
the blade) in order to change its angle relative to the wind. In
a more extreme case, the angle of the blade can change
enough to accommodate changes in the direction of the
air ow.

Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• An example of a variable pitch
turbine for application in an
OWC is shown in Figure.

• Although this type of turbine is

the most e cient option,
energy is required to change
the pitch of the blades every
time the direction of air ow
changes.

• Also, the device is somewhat

complex, with correspondingly
high production costs and risk
of mechanical failure.
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 Oscillating Water
Columns (OWCs)
• A simpler, less expensive, and potentially more reliable
alternative is the Wells turbine, which was developed by
Alan Wells of Queen’s University, Belfast, in the 1980s.
The trade-o is a potentially lower e ciency.
• In a Wells turbine, the blades
are xed and symmetric
(somewhat almond-shaped in
cross section, as shown in the
gure), so that they appear
the same from either air ow
direction.

• The net resulting force on the

blade causes a rotation in the
same direction regardless of
the air ow direction.

Floats and Pitching

Devices
• Devices of several di erent geometries fall into this category,
and two characteristic designs are described in the section.

• These are anchored near shore, and the electricity that is

generated can be transferred to shore through appropriate
power lines.

• The most common of these devices is the Pelamis

(pronounced pel-AH-mis), which is named after a genus of
sea snake (because of its geometry). (Note: The genus
Pelamis contains a single species, P. platura, which is highly
venomous and inhabits coastal regions in much of the
Paci c and Indian Oceans.)

Floats and Pitching

Devices
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 Floats and Pitching
Devices
• These devices have been developed in Scotland and Portugal.
They are typically about 3.5 m in diameter and 120 m long and
are made in sections (typically four) that are connected by
hinges.

• They are anchored in water that is typically about 50 m deep and

are allowed to rotate so that they face in the direction of the
waves. As the waves pass the sections of the Pelamis, it exes
at the hinges, giving rise to a snake-like appearance.

• Hydraulic cylinders associated with the hinges are used to pump

hydraulic uid through hydraulic turbines, which drive electric
generators. Typical Pelamis generators are rated at 750-kWe
output.

Floats and Pitching

Devices
• Other devices that have been
tested in recent years are buoys
that ride up and down in the
waves.

• These typically generate

electricity either by pumping uid
through a turbine that is
connected to a generator or by
mechanical means that use the
wave motion to turn an electric
generator.

Floats and Pitching

Devices
• Figures show a prototype wave buoy produced
by NEMOS GmbH in Germany.

• Rather than coupling to only the vertical

movement of the buoy, a system of cables, as
shown in Figure, harvests energy from both
vertical and horizontal buoy movement to drive
a generator positioned on a nearby tower.

• Towers of o shore wind turbines are ideal for

this purpose; they will facilitate power
transmission to shore by using existing
infrastructure and provide a system in which
wave and wind power will complement each
other by evening out the intermittent nature of
both energy sources.
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 Floats and Pitching
Devices

Wave-Focusing Devices
• The Wave Dragon is a wave-focusing device. The device is moored o -shore,
typically a few kilometers from land. Two arms act as curved re ectors to gather
waves, which are directed to the sloping ramp at the far end of the device.

Wave-Focusing Devices

• The water collected in the reservoir runs back into the sea
through turbines, which are used to run generators.

• Several prototype devices have been constructed o the

coasts of the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Denmark.
Because the device can be large, it harvests energy from
a substantial length of wave front.

• Prototype and planned devices have outputs in the range

of tens of megawatt electrical for moderate sea states.
 Wave energy resources
• At present all wave power devices are prototypes or have
had limited commercialization.

• The future development of this energy resource requires a

consideration of the extent of wave energy.

• Certainly, it is a renewable resource with a lifetime that is, for

all practical purposes, in nite.

• However, it is a resource that is best exploited in a limited

number of locations around the world. It is estimated that the
average deepwater wave power worldwide is in the range of
1012–1013 W.

Wave energy resources

• This is similar to, or somewhat less than the current world power
requirements.

• Since all of this wave power cannot be exploited, it cannot meet

our total needs.

• An ambitious e ort to utilize wave power with current or

foreseeable technology could make up to perhaps a few percent
of the available wave power commercially viable.

• Because wave energy resources occur in speci c geographical

areas, it is a resource that can be locally signi cant. An analysis
of wave power places production costs in the 5–10 cents per
kilowatt-hour.

Wave energy resources

• Like wind power, wave power is subject to daily and seasonal
uctuations, as well as random uctuations due to changing
meteorological conditions.

• Thus, this is best used as a source of energy in conjunction with

storage systems and/or other energy resources.

• Wave power has minimal environmental impact. The Wells turbines

used in most onshore OWCs tend to be noisy and need to be
acoustically insulated, particularly in populated areas.

• O shore wave farms, consisting of devices like the Pelamis, wave

buoys or the Wave Dragon must be cognizant of navigational
considerations. Aesthetically, wave farms are probably less
conspicuous than o shore wind farms.
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