A HYDRAULIC WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER

As a renewable energy source, wave energy has the potential to contribute to the increasing
global demand for power. In South Africa specifically, the country’s energy needs may
easily be satisfied by the abundance of wave energy at the South-West coast of the country.
Commercially developing and utilizing wave energy devices is not without its challenges,
however. The ability of these devices to survive extreme weather conditions and the need
to achieve cost-efficacy while achieving high capacity factors are but some of the concerns.
Constant changes in wave heights, lengths and directions as well as high energy levels and
large forces during storm conditions often lead to difficulties in keeping the complexity of
the device down, avoiding over-dimensioning and reaching high capacity factors.