Wave power may be the main source of energy of the future. As the race to find sustainable clean energy gains momentum, electricity from saltwater is a strong contender.
Harnessing the power of waves has long been in practice. However, most of the power plants used to harness tidal power from the ocean are located along coastlines where marine ecosystem is fragile.
Tidal power plants are usually placed in estuaries where fishes and other marine life ecosystems are also located. These plants are also costly to build and so only a handful of them are built all around the world.
In the recent years, more companies are simultaneously developing technologies to harvest the power of waves in waters further off the coastline. These innovative inventions may someday give us clean and renewable energy.
There are several countries that are developing and some are quite promising inventions that are capable of harvesting power from the sea. On such company is a Jersey-based developer named Ocean Power Technologies. They have launched a project which is the first American commercial wave power farm as reported by Alternative-Energy News.
The wave power farm works as energy is created by a float on a buoy moves with the natural up and down movement of the waves. The vertical motion is then converted to a circular motion by a plunger. The circular motion then drives an electric generator to produce electricity.
There are numerous other companies that have developed and others that are still developing newer ways of collecting power from the sea.
In an interview with the BBC, Stuart Herbert, Commercial director of Wave Hub, LTD stated that electricity from saltwater is a possibility in the near future; it is unlikely that this technology can power the whole world. It is estimated that at least 15% to 20% of UK's power needs will be met with electricity coming from this technology.
