Waves are caused by the action of winds on the sea. Waves can be many metres in height and contain a great deal of energy. This energy can be harnessed to drive turbines that generate electricity

Wave energy has the potential to provide as much renewable energy as the wind industry and it has also a theoretical efficiency advantage over wind power.

Because it is denser, moving water carries a much greater power density than wind or solar radiation. Consequently it is through the water-based technologies that renewable energies move into the big league. The worldwide wave power resource potential is huge. The total power of waves breaking on the world’s coastlines is estimated at 2-3 million MW. In favourable locations, wave energy density can average 65 MW per mile of coastline. Due to the direction of the prevailing winds and the size of the Atlantic Ocean, the UK has wave power levels that are among the highest in the world. Allowing for technical, practical and environmental limitations, wave energy could generate up to one sixth of the UK's electricity consumption.

Wave power is an emerging renewable energy technology which is still at the prototype stage, with only a few experimental sites in existence.

Wave energy collectors are of two main types: the first type directs waves into man-made channels, where the water passes through a turbine that generates electricity; the second type uses the up and down movement of a wave to push air.

Most of these devices are floating devices intended for exposure to the full strength of waves in the open ocean. Others are intended to be fixed to the sea bed on the shoreline. There are many advantages of wave power - waves are a free, reliable and sustainable energy resource which is also, of course, non-polluting.

Links for Further Information 

http://www.oceanpd.com              http://www.wavegen.co.uk