Case Study
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Scotland 2000- Limpet device became 1st fdevice to use wave energy on a commerical scale.
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Supplies power to the National Grid.
Wave Energy
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
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Renewable: They require no input from man to make their power.
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Environment Friendly: creates no harmful byproducts such as gas, waste, and pollution.
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Abundant and Widely Available: Lots of big cities and harbors are next to the ocean and can harness the power of the waves for their use. Coastal cities tend to be well-populated, so lots of people can get use from wave energy plants.
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Variety of Ways To Harness : Current gathering methods range from installed power plant with hydro turbines to seafaring vessels equipped with massive structures that are laid into the sea to gather the wave energy.
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Easily Predictable : consistent
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No Damage to Land : It is safe, clean and one of the preferred method to extract energy from ocean.
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Suitable to Certain Locations : Only power plants and towns near ocean will benefit directly from it. Landlocked nations and cities far from the sea have to find alternate sources of power.
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Effect on marine Ecosystem : Large machines have to be put near and in the water to gather energy from the waves. These machines disturb seafloor, change habitat of near-shore creatures (like crabs & starfish) and create noise that disturbs sea life around them. There is also a danger of toxic chemicals used on wave energy platforms spilling and polluting the water near them.
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Wavelength : Wind power is highly dependent on wavelength i.e. wave speed, wave length, wavelength and water density. They require a consistent flow of powerful waves to generate significant amount of wave power. Some areas experience unreliable wave behavior.
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Weak Performance in Rough Weather: The performance of wave power drops significantly during rough weather.
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Noise and Visual pollution : They look like large machines working in the middle of the ocean and destroy the beauty of the ocean. Also generate noise pollution.
INFORMATION
1 of least developed sources & thought to be 10 yrs behind wind in development.
Although offshore devices have electricity generation potential, too expensive to implement on large scale. Also, development could create -ve environmental changes in tidal basin.
Number of small-scale schemes developed in UK, including Pelamis Device off Orkney Islands & Limpet off the island of Islay, Scotland.