Some recent news gives new hope to the viability of extracting energy from the motion of the sea.
Seagen’s tidal wave generator (see photo) has reached its maximum output of 1.2 MW in real life circumstances.
At the same time Eric Stoutenberg, a researcher from Stanford University, published a paper which shows that wind and (surface) wave energy usually peak at different moments. The impact of this result is twofold. First of all it promises that the variation in power generated by renewables can be reduced. But that is not all: the cost of power transmission lines from offshore windparks can be shared by both the wave generator and the windpark, reducing the cost per KWh.
