If you’ve ever been knocked off your feet by a big wave, you’ve felt a smidgeon of the ocean’s power.
Now imagine how wave power could be one of our largest energy resources — an abundant resource with 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by oceans.
For decades, scientists and engineers have looked to our vast oceans and dreamed of ways to extract a tiny fraction of that energy. In an era of climate awareness and anxiety, finding ways to do that is finally getting more attention.
An illustration of PacWave’s planned infrastructure.
Kilcher was a lead author on the 2021 NREL report that compiled available data on marine energy sources in the US, including waves, tides and ocean currents. The team found that the total energy potential is equal to more than half (57%) of the electricity generated in the US in a single year.
Though experimental sites like PacWave point to an efficient way to harvest wave power and could facilitate breakthroughs, wave energy still has a way to go before becoming a significant source of electricity. Though waves are steady, they aren’t identical, posing a key challenge in designing a machine to capture their energy.
“You’re trying to tune [the technological approach] so you can take advantage of these shifting kinds of waves,” said Andrea Copping, a senior researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Differing approaches to capturing wave energy include devices that ride the top of waves or ones that translate the pressure waves put on the seafloor into power. Another approach involves devices called oscillating water columns, which compress air as waves rush through them. That compressed air spins a turbine and generates energy.
A research diver inspects a hydrophone lander deployed on the seafloor as part of ongoing research to improve the environmental monitoring of marine energy devices.
“I think the biggest issue is uncertainty,” Robertson added. “We haven’t done this at scale before, so what are the environmental impacts going to be?”
He says the policy process may be slow for good reasons, but the need for marine energy is still urgent.
“We need to find a way to deploy technology faster while being cognizant of the environment,” he said. “We just need to find a way to accelerate this process if we’re going to have a measurable impact on climate change.”
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on May 10, 2023. We’re republishing it now to coincide with Earth Day and CNET’s week-long focus on sustainability.
