Wave Power Test Plants

Ideas for wave power machines have existed for centuries but have rarely advanced beyond the drawing board. The technology needed to exploit the power of the waves commercially has not been sufficiently developed. A multi-disciplinary technical effort is required to achieve this goal. The structural engineering aspects of wave power conversion alone involve a number of substantial technical challenges. Since the end of the 1970s, wave power conversion has been the object of research in Denmark. In 1988 the consortium Danish Wave Power (DWP), has carried out most of the wave power development in Denmark, supported by the Danish Energy Agency and an electricity company. DWP has chosen to promote the development of second-generation systems based on offshore point absorbers. The main advantage of this approach is that the energy content of waves is far greater further out at sea and suitable locations are easier to find offshore.