Ocean power is gaining ground

       

Further reading

• The hidden power of the oceans (6819)

Renewables are trendy, that is undisputable, but some concerns are being raised about the “invasion of nature” we need to do in order to meet our energy needs using renewable energy sources. The lacks of materials, workforce for maintenance or even land to install renewable technologies are some of the issues being raised.

However, there are still a number of solutions with great potential to be explored. Ocean Energy is one of these. The potential is still unknown, but it is available, predictable, and there is a lot! Wave energy has the highest density among all renewable energy sources. The chart above ilustrates the global relative wave energy density.

Earlier this year, this blog referred to ocean power, but since then a number of new developments occurred:

And a number of new concepts are entering the market:

If renewables have already taken off, ocean energy solutions are catching up. The solutions are varied and the potential is great. In the end, the majority of our planet is covered by oceans!

The questions are:

What amount of energy can it deliver? and Does it justify the investment in the necessary infrastructures?