VALPOLICELLA

Wave Power

Wave energy converters capture kinetic and potential energy from ocean waves and swells to deliver products, such as electricity.

Wave energy converters are usually small (~1 MW) and are intended to be modular and deployed in multi-unit arrays (Figure 7).

There is little design consensus for wave energy devices. Due to the diverse nature of the wave resource, it appears unlikely that one

single device concept will dominate. Rather, a small number of device types will harness different regions of this vast resource, e.g.,

heaving motion or wave rise and fall.

Most wave energy converters have to be able to operate in a wide range of conditions and to survive extreme conditions in storms.

Consequently, the devices have to be tuned to local, ever changing conditions, whilst being robust enough to operate unattended.