Wave energy: history, implementations, environmental impacts, and economics

Abstract

The ocean, covering 70% of the earth’s surface, is regarded as one of the largest reservoirs of renewable energy. Especially, the waves, with violent fluctuations, are widely distributed on the ocean, producing enormous energy yet to be fully exploited. Wave energy is known as clean, renewable energy in the global energy field with broad prospects. Its wide distribution, enormous content and high quality enable the wave energy to possess tremendous potential value in the global energy market. However, the wave energy faces the inevitable issues of relatively low efficiency and instability, and it still requires further scientific researches and more practical tests before fully exploiting the potential value. In this report, the development and current situation of wave energy are mainly discussed, including the history, implementations, environmental impacts, economics. Our group aims to gather comprehensive information about the wave energy, analyze the multiple impacts of the implementations and find out the promising field in the future development of wave energy.