Wave Energy Technology Development - Ask an Expert 

This is brilliant, thank you.. actual engineers talking about engineering a range of engineering problems.

This is brilliant topic. Thanks so much Rosie! Best!

Great questions asked!

Thanks for the subtitles :D

Thank you for making this

Great information!

I like the fact that the measuring device at 1:31 has the (UK) phone number on the side so if anyone finds it, they'll know whom to call. It's the wave energy equivalent of a dog tag. That was very interesting and gives some insight into why the presumably huge amount of energy in tides hasn't been used to generate energy more successfully. It's a complex (and therefore fascinating) area. I would definitely be interested in knowing how the main technologies work. I understand some of them at a high level but the devil is in the detail and the engineering challenges often aren't obvious to people like me who are interested in engineering but aren't engineers.

woo hoo great video! Keep up the hard work!

Thanks Rosie. Your videos are wonderful. I live near the coast in Northern California and I'm always amazed there is not more wave energy here, especially as our power supplier, PG&E, regularly shuts off power on hot days because they don't have the capacity. Feels like it's a third world country sometimes!

I think things like floating bridges, floating piers with buildings on top, etc could / should all be generating power from wave and tide movements too. Their weight translates into a great amount of power that can be tapped from their movements.

You could flood a compartment or pump it dry to adapt to diffrant waves

thank you, Rosie. great information and actually I expected the video will be on the hybrid system wave energy and offshore wind turbines.

Ocean current energy was my choice of study as far as renewable back in college.. I never saw wind as strong

I think all ships should have wave energy outriggers that stabilize the roll of the ship while generating power as a bonus. They could even have internal roll dampers (not completely unlike those in tall buildings) that could / should be used to generate power too.

I recently saw a video on something called Blowhole: using the movement of air captured in a cement "neck" partially submerge which in turn drove a "dry" turbine. it looked promising as the turbine would be somewhat protected from the inevitable algal and barnacle growth that would probably limit the effectiveness of an underwater system.

អរគុណThank👏

Not o ly is wave energy site specific , it also has to adapt infrastructure to wide wave types and sizes and period. I've always felt the approach of reflect waves to a locatation and amplify them using constructive interference and feed them into a ramp storage device..

Composite carbon fires could play a important role in the future of wave energy as they improve

Interesting

Is there any work being done to capture wind and wave energy in one device? To increase efficiency and to lower its total cost? BTW, I liked the post. But an overview of the different types and classification of Wave Energy Capture Technology would have helped me grasp how they they function. And to explain the difficulty the industry is having to reach its maturation point.

I've always been interested in the idea of using wave energy generation in locations where high coastal erosion is an issue to take every out of the waves and use that to reduce the effect of the waves thereby slowing erosion (for areas where that is a problem).

What about using marine structures/devices that are needed for other reasons to serve a dual function as wave energy generators ? For example a shore battery might have a double wall to serve as a "torpedo blister" and with a little additional equipment the space between the walls could be used to power a wells turbine . This would make the battery independent as far as electrical power is concerned , a very good thing during a war and during peace it may even be a energy provider. I can see this working for bridge supports , provide a ship "bumper" and provide power as well.

Could you use a aspirator?

Please I need explanation from expert on how wave direction and speed has influence on wave energy harvesting

I think wave energy could do a lot to stabiles power supply as it is very predicatable - countries such as the UK are really misssing out as we are surrounded by water! There could be a percieved problem as wave farms look like they will be smaller than the windfarms and therfore seen as adding energy at a local level and this not want all the industry is focussed on i.e. large interconnectors/shareing loads across countries etc Als I think maintenance will could be an issue but I really hope that these factors do not affect the future of the technology.

Rosie, would you have any recommendations of beginner physics simulator programs to model designs in ocean waves? Ha. Thanks.

I know the potential of wave energy is massive but that is just because the oceans are endless. 75% of the world. What I would like to hear more about is an economically viable site and technology match. It seems like boats could harness this power for propulsion in some way but for grid scale power, is there actually enough energy available in a given area to make building and mintaining the machine worthwhile? Ocean currents seem to be a much better bet if we could find a way to harness them with in current windmills pointing towards the perpetual, vast flow of ocean water. I guess the trade off there is site access, waves are close to shore while currents happen either far or very far from shore

The thing with wave energy, you need a machine that can take a beating, so when there is storms we must take advantage of all of that energy.

Can you outline the major technologies atm?

Great video on wave energy generation. Very informative. Many thanks. Wouldn't it be more straightforward to build tidal turbines than capturimg wave energy? If you are going to go to all the trouble of building a robust mechanical device that can operate in the very harsh marine environment, wouldn't you would be better off capturimg highly predictable tidal energy and not have to cope with the variability and storms that wave devices have to handle? ... What am I missing?

Thanks for the video. Good questions and the answers were pretty hedged I d suggest. This because wave energy is so expensive and far from commercialisation. That being said, as a developer, I think there will be design convergence- in that if a stand out piece of technology comes along- say an order of magnitude better than current efforts, I would suggest that this will get the concentrated effort and more funds will flow and less to the other concepts. A good device will have the ability to capture energy from a large spread of frequencies and amplitudes- so I disagree that long term we will see vast different devices for different wave climates. Wave is pretty close to basket case from where I sit, but I would not write it off long term just yet. I think some good stuff may come. Development process is very expensive..

I have my own wave energy converter design. Commercial wave energy harvesting will soon be a reality.

What about tidal hydro power? An enclosed damn in the sea that fills up during high tide and empties during low tide. Is there not enough change in tide hight for that to work?

Very informative. Just think, most of the worlds population is near an ocean coastline.

Wave energy prototypes always seem to last as long as the first storm. And that is perhaps lucky because if they lasted any longer the barnacles and seaweed would cripple them. Tidal, the slow steady predictable power of gravity, seems a better match. As a first principle, the machine itself should never move.

Albert Einstein said; People always do the same experiences and hope obtain different results, This is why all WEC have no efficiency, they works the same way, reacts against the wave, to increase force they decrease displacemente, energy is force x displacement in same direction, J=fxm 1 joule = 1Newton x 1m. An other mistake is a confusion between energy and power, if we want convert a huge amount of energy in a litle period of time ( W=J/s ) we need a big power converter system, the time is less than a half time of wave time, so we must size the converter to peak power, much more expensive. This is physics. But, if we make a WEC all way around, we make a WEC more efficient, immune to storms, less expensive and coast protection. It´s a disruptive WEC. Install near-shore a column fixed on sea bed , a buoy nearby the column connected by a cable, all time in tension, to a mechanism installed on column´s top. When wave arrive the buoy follow the wave, like a boat, until reach the wave top, the mechanism detect and fixe the buoy at that point, the first and most important energy conversion is done, wave energy into potencial energy with maximum efficiency. After now we have e steady force, equal to buoy weight, and much more time to convert the potential energy into an other, because the time between waves is much more longer than a wave time, than less power to convert the same amount of energy. The basic and simple mechanism is out of water on column´s top, easy to maintenance and easy access. Rose, if you like my WEC, please help me finish my TRL 3 prototype, concept proof prototype. Thank you. Rogério Monteiro

_”Lab-rat-ory”_ 💜😂👍

Im no expert but im thinking why not build a concrete tube with turbines mounted inside somehow when the waves move in and out they turn the turbines

No offense but english not my first language so it is a good idea or bad idea?

采能方式决定项目的成败。

You work with me Only a kilometers square gives enough energy which run a big area Just by atmospheric pressure So your money because a constant source of life for me 🕉🕉🕉🕉🕉

So, that’s a whole scam industry