A Review of the Viability and Development of Ocean Wave Energy Converter Technology

The increased growth of the world population has created an overwhelming need to generate more energy. At the same time, there is a global consensus to shift toward renewable sources of energy in order to try to mitigate the effects of global warming. This has led to research into the optimization of various renewable energy sources in an effort to improve the technology readiness and technology performance level of such energy systems, with wave energy being a strong option to help meet renewable energy targets. The potential for wave energy technology as a source of energy is immense, and this is because ocean waves offer a large inexhaustible energy source, thus making wave energy one of the most promising renewable, sustainable, and predictable sources of energy. Nonetheless, the lack of widespread commercial use of wave energy has shown that it is still relatively immature compared to other renewable energy technologies. This review study analyses the variability of wave resources and the viability of wave energy technology. It highlights the benefits of wave energy and the challenges which need to be addressed. The literature review also provides a summary of the current status as well as the ongoing development of wave energy converter (WEC) technology. Since there is a wide range of wave energy converter technology which shows that the sector has not reached convergence, this review article concludes by suggesting a systematic and holistic approach to best addressing current issues for future developments.