Developing Innovative Strategies to Extract Ocean Wave Energy

Oceans represent a significant, predictable resource for renewable energy. The main forms of ocean energy are waves, tides, marine currents, salinity gradient and temperature gradient. While wave and tidal energy are the most mature technologies, the commercially viable extraction of energy from ocean waves has yet to be achieved.

The EU-funded LiftWEC project focuses on the development of LiftWEC, a novel type of wave energy converter. Specifically, it will develop a new concept based on the exploitation of lift forces generated by wave-induced water velocities. Current concepts need to couple through diffraction or buoyancy forces, but this new approach will use lift forces (as opposed to the traditional buoyancy). In addition, the LiftWEC concept has the advantage that the motion can be unidirectional, which significantly simplifies the extraction of energy.

Project partners

• The Queen's University of Belfast - Lead partner (UK);
• Technische Universitat Hamburg (DE);
• National University of Ireland Maynooth (IR);
• INNOSEA (FR);
• Aalborg Universitet (DK);
• University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork (IR);
• Ecole Centrale de Nantes (FR);
• Fernandez Chozas Julia (DK);
• WAVEC/Offshore Renewables - Centro de Energia Offshore Associacao (PT);
• University of Strathclyde (UK).