Technical aspects of wave-generators systems

WEC: wave energy converters

Résumé

The main purpose of this article is to point out the actual progress on wave energy converters by stressing their construction differences in all their main parts and by indicating their main working principle as well as their installation characteristics. Resulting from the effect of wind on marine surfaces (the power of the waves is substantially proportional to the power of the wind speed), wave energy represents a net availability of 1 to 5% of the world's annual electricity demand. Recoverable energy could reach up to 2000TWh/year with more efficient conversion systems. However, it is necessary to consider the relatively low conversion efficiency (of approximately 10% on annual averages) of the current recovery systems.