Investor Presentaiton
Energies 2019, 12, 3658
Capacity Installed (MW)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Year
| AFRICA ■ASIA
EUROPE
NORTH AMERICA
OCEANIA
SOUTH AMERICA
Figure 9. Marine energy: capacity installed by continents, according to the International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) (2019) [152].
3.3.2. Technology Status
The technology readiness level (TRL) presented by NASA has been adapted for ocean renewable
energy technologies and presented by [154]. The TRL system quantifies the development of ocean
energy devices from an initial stage of research and development (R&D) to industrial roll-out,
which involves the mass production of off-the-shelf components and devices. Accordingly, the ocean
renewable energy technologies are still at the conceptual, R&D, or demonstrative prototype stages.
Nevertheless, in the case of waves and tidal currents, global commercial application is expected in
the near to medium future. Based on reports, the extraction of energy from tidal ranges is still at the
precommercial stage and the use of energy from tidal currents and waves is at the demonstration and
prototype stages, respectively.
3.3.3. Deployed Devices
Large-scale (half- or full-scale) testing at sea is necessary for the pre-commercial stage of
development. However, only a few devices have been constructed and tested at full scale.
Oscillating water column devices have been employed as fixed onshore and floating offshore
structures. Some examples of the fixed OWC prototypes have been deployed in Japan [155], Italy [156],
Portugal [157], and Norway [158].
The Pelamis Wave power is the most mature wave-activated body device. It was installed for the
first time in 2004 at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) wave test site at Billia Croo. Later, its
second generation, which comprised five connected sections, giving a total length of 180 m and a rated
power of 750 kW, was installed at the same test site in 2010. AquaBuoy [159], Interproject Service (IPS)
buoy [160], and Wave Bob [161] are examples of the wave-activated body devices that produce energy
from the relative motion of two connected oscillating bodies.
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