Wave Resource

The global wave power resource in deep water (i.e. 100 m or more) is estimated to be ~ 1-10 TW (Panicker, 1976). As waves move to shallower waters they lose energy, but detailed variation of sea-bed topography can lead to the focusing of wave energy in concentrated regions near the shoreline, called ‘hot spots’. The estimates of economically exploitable resource vary from 140-750 TWh/yr (Wavenet, 2003) to as high as 2 000 TWh/yr (Thorpe, 1999).

Because of the direction of the prevailing winds and the size of fetch across the Atlantic Ocean, the UK has wave power levels that are amongst the highest in the world. Waves with the greatest energy are those off the northwest coast of Scotland, where the power averages between 50kW – 70KW per metre wave width. Seas to the west of Cornwall are almost as promising containing between 40kW to 60kw per metre wave width.