For me wave power enjoys some important economic advantages.
1) the units are small, so they can be produced in factory, in volume, giving rise to economies of scale and learning curve effects which should drive down the cost.
2) they can piggyback in part on the improvements in infrastructure and technology created by offshore wind
3) they seem amenable to robotic installation because they are large volumes of small generators.
But I think they have been beaten to the punch by solar PV which has a better scalability because solar PV units are smaller (more volume, more learning) and have a bigger and more readily accessible market. Putting up a solar panel in the desert looks to me to be easier than putting anything in the sea.
I do think we'll see solar PV sitting in a virtuous spot for the next ten years where production capacity of the panels increases and improves, deployment increases year on year and the cost drops by 2- 4% a year.
I hope I'm wrong. Broadly, I like the idea of having lots technologies in the generation mix. What if solar PV causes a horrible industrial disease and that's all we've got. Closer to home as an employee of a maritime robotics company who lives in Scotland I'd love for a power generation technology that involves maritime robotics and a windy, wavy coastline to be economical. That's paying my pension.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-02-17 02:03 pm (UTC)1) the units are small, so they can be produced in factory, in volume, giving rise to economies of scale and learning curve effects which should drive down the cost.
2) they can piggyback in part on the improvements in infrastructure and technology created by offshore wind
3) they seem amenable to robotic installation because they are large volumes of small generators.
But I think they have been beaten to the punch by solar PV which has a better scalability because solar PV units are smaller (more volume, more learning) and have a bigger and more readily accessible market. Putting up a solar panel in the desert looks to me to be easier than putting anything in the sea.
I do think we'll see solar PV sitting in a virtuous spot for the next ten years where production capacity of the panels increases and improves, deployment increases year on year and the cost drops by 2- 4% a year.
I hope I'm wrong. Broadly, I like the idea of having lots technologies in the generation mix. What if solar PV causes a horrible industrial disease and that's all we've got. Closer to home as an employee of a maritime robotics company who lives in Scotland I'd love for a power generation technology that involves maritime robotics and a windy, wavy coastline to be economical. That's paying my pension.