Wave energy – what are the advantages? What are the disadvantages?
On a worldwide scale, there’s a potential for wave energy production. That potential stands at approximately 2 terawatts (TW) annually.
The current human consumption of energy, again, on a worldwide basis, is 15 TW per year.
Still, wave energy offers a massive potential contribution to worldwide need.
So, what is there to stop us from building massive wave power farms?
Here, we consider the pros and the cons involved in developing wave energy and harnessing ocean wave power.
Advantages of Wave Energy
1 Wave energy is renewable
Unlike fossil fuels, wave energy comes from a renewable source.
Ultimately, and just like solar energy and wind energy, wave energy comes from heat energy. Heat energy comes from the sun.
The sun will last for a further 5 billion years.
That’s a lot of potential available from wave energy.
2 Wave energy is “green”
Energy derived from ocean waves does not emit any greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.
Fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, are harmful to our environment, given that they emit a lot of greenhouse gases.
3 Wave energy comes from a reliable source
Waves are constant. They rarely become “interrupted” and they are persistently in motion.
In turn, wave energy is reliable. Far more reliable than energy from solar panels and wind turbines (the sun doesn’t always shine and there’s not always wind).
In the northern hemisphere, from November through May, on average, it’s possible that the difference in comparison to wave energy provided in the southern hemisphere during the same timespan can vary as much as by a factor of two, and possibly even more.
Wind and wave energy comes with a far larger potential throughout the winter months. In contrast, solar energy has the largest potential in the summer months.
In which case, all three energy sources work synergistically together.
4 Huge potential of energy
Waves carry a huge amount of energy.
Typically, the energy density of a wave for every single meter (2.2 feet) is 30-40 kW. along the length of the shore.
What’s more, it is not uncommon to find as much as 100 kW for each individual wave meter the farther offshore you go.
5 Wave power offshore
Energy plants for ocean waves can be positioned well offshore. This solves a number of issues that power plants that are located much closer to shore have.
As mentioned in point number 4, offshore wave power is generally far greater than onshore wave power.
On top of that benefit, with greater flexibility with regards to where offshore wave farms are located, it helps to minimize any negative environmental impact.
However, it’s far costlier to establish an offshore wave farm than to build an onshore wave farm.
6 Area efficient
Wave farms that occupy less than a half-square mile of ocean are able to generate upwards of 30 MW of power. This is enough to supply full electrical power for as much as 20,000 homes in the developed world.
Disadvantages of Wave Energy
1 Cost
Because harnessing energy from wave power is in its relative infancy, speculation on costs is not easy in comparison to the likes of solar- or wind-garnered energy.
There are many factors involved in assessing cost, including wave resources, making connections to the power grid, in addition to technology lifespan.
While some of the costs can be guesstimated with a reasonable level of accuracy, the lifespan of wave energy-extracting technologies is particularly difficult to assess, again, given the recency of any developments.
For now, as it is with the vast majority of new technologies, garnering power from wave energy comes with very high cost.
Otherwise, the future does lie in renewable energy sources. Once larger-scale facilities are assembled, the costs will inevitably fall.
Numerous parts involved with wave-power generation are in need of frequent maintenance.
Add to this the fact that some of these numerous parts are persistently submersed below the water’s surface and that in itself does not make maintenance any more simplistic, nor does it make it cheaper.
2 Environmental impact
Those onshore wave power farms which are visible from land could bring about conflict in terms of local acceptance and tourism.
Because of this, coastal facilities and installations that are based on land have to meet greater restriction levels; at least in terms of location and size.
Furthermore, it’s not yet possible to precisely assess the impact that wave power generation will have on sea life.
More data will be available within a matter of a few years from now.
Conclusion
There’s enormous potential with respect to wave- power generation.
Nevertheless, far more funding is required, together with plenty additional research.
With this, wave power generation technologies will become better and more efficient, thereby pushing prices down and therefore making it a competitive technology.
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