Abstract:
The world's oceans contain tremendous renewable energy potentials. It is
estimated that if 0.2% of the ocean's untapped energy could be harnessed, it could
provide power sufficient for the entire world [1]. This thesis provides a comprehensive description of the state-of-the-art of ocean energy extraction technologies and lessons learned from previous research and projects leading to the development of a model to convert wave characteristics to wave energy potential. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed with Matlab 6.5 to convert wave characteristics to wave energy potential, which can be used to analyze real-time data as well as historical statistics. Issues that need to be considered toward the commercialization of this type of renewable energy are investigated and presented.
