Many scientists working on the problem "assessmet of the wave energy resources is Oceans and Seas".
But in real life wave energy is not so widely used in the world.
It is because the people don't know about wave energy potential?
or this technology (electricity generation from waves) so hard and not yet developed good?
or easier to burn traditional fuel and be happy?
and our wave energy estimates will be useful in 20-30 years later?
All previous attempts to use the energy of the waves failed due to the huge energy difference between the summer and winter months. In the winter months, the amplitude is about ten times higher than in summer, the energy of the waves is then a hundred times larger. So far, it has not been possible to build machines that survive this dynamic range. Most plants were built and tested in summer and destroyed in the following winter.
Thank you for answers. Thus, we have a "young" technology, and young solutions, wich cannot provide a good result now. But, when I will find the area in the ocean where the wave enegry flux is the same in winter and in summer - I can give hope to egineers to find good solution.
consequently, the more research of wave energy potential will help to get a good technology faster. ok, let's try to do it.
Another issue to consider is the materials used in wave converters, in sea conditions these materials have to be protected against the corrotion and the fouling formation, the major issue can be fouling formation because it depends on the ecosystems which lives on the site that these systems will be installed.
One of the biggest problems is fatigue. Every spot on the ocean averages 6 million cycles of wave loading in a year so anything you put out there is by default a fatigue test machine. It's not a question of if it will fail, but how soon and in what ways so the cost of repair and replacement has to be figured into the operating costs. There are also issues with NIMBY and with getting the local power companies to allow you to connect to their grid. There has been an enormous amount of work done since the 1970's on a huge variety of schemes, a lot of which never had a chance of lasting more than a few weeks or until the first winter storm came in. The amount of wave energy available is actually increasing a few percent a year off shore, but since much to that is in the longer period ranges greater than about 10 seconds, most of it is not reaching the shallows as it is eaten up by bottom friction as it comes up the slope.
Apart from its potential and efficiency of a mechanical device, a huge problem is that ocean wave converters work under the resonance principle. It means that we want that the some resonant modes of the structure coincide with the peak energy of the waves. This causes huge forces in the structural and mechanical connections, and this is a big challenge for the designer, when considering maintenance or inspection.
It is because the other energy sources in use have high comparative advantage in terms of costs of installation and maintenance. Although there is high energy potential in wave energy, the cost of implementation seems to outweigh the cost used in implementing others. Besides, the involved technology is not well developed yet but in its infant stage.
The wave climate (Height of the Wave, Wave length of the wave and Time Period of the wave )is not feasible and viable everywhere. That is why it is not so widely used in the world.
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