Ocean Energy Harvesting Proven to be Successful.

A success in the technology to harvest energy from waves and tides has been witnessed although the costs for implementing it must come down.

FREMONT, CA: Energy contained in oceans is both renewable and predictable, which is appealing considering the issues faced by wind and solar power fluctuations. However, if marine energy harvesting technologies are to become popular, they will require a push. As water is more than 800 times denser than air, it transports a lot of energy when it moves. According to the US Energy Information Administration, waves off the shores of the United States have a theoretical energy potential comparable to two-thirds of the country's electricity generation in 2020. Tides are predictable for decades, whereas waves are persistent, storing wind energy and arriving days after the winds have stopped.

The cost of marine energy is a major issue. It is many times more expensive than wind or solar energy to build reliable equipment that can withstand the highly hostile ocean environment generated by seawater and large storms. Only with the support of the government will this shift happen. In the mid-2000s, capturing marine energy was a popular topic in Britain, with companies like Rolls Royce, General Electric, and Siemens becoming involved. Technology was progressing, but funding from the government was cut short. While the big players finally abandoned their objectives, numerous small businesses persevered, frequently with the assistance of European Union funds.

At the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland and the Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii, a number of marine energy machines have already been demonstrated to work. Neil Kermode, CEO of EMEC, citing technical aspects including subsea experience and new digital-control technologies stated that at this point, all of the components are in place and that they have got this working. According to Brian Polagye, engineering professor and head of the Pacific Marine Energy Center, certain small ocean-energy machines are already cost-competitive in places where power is expensive or difficult to obtain, such as remote communities and offshore installations. The environmental impact of marine energy machines—noise, behavioral effects, or possible collisions—hasn't been considerable so far, but greater deployments would necessitate more research and design changes.