Technologies for wave energy exploitation

T. Agoris, Technologies for wave energy exploitation, Diploma thesis, 109 pages, Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering – National Technical University of Athens, Athens, October 2018.

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[Greek]

Planet earth as the existing elements prove is the only place with the proper living conditions for the human species and other living beings. For this reason the primary purpose is its protection. Until today many actions of the humanity imply environmental hazards with consequences to the quality of life. A typical example is the consumption of fossil fuels to meet human’s energy demands. The positive state is that when the oil crises strike and was understood that these stocks are depleted the researchers tried to find new sources of energy, renewable and environmentally friendly. Over the years these sources have evolved replacing in many cases fossil fuels and apparently they are the future energy. The most popular forms of renewable energy are wind, solar and hydro energy while geothermal, biomass-generated energy and ocean energy are less known. Forecasts for increasing energy demands in the future are turning the scientific community’s interest in finding new resources beyond the three popular. Observing the globe, the sea is a vast area that covers most of planet earth and probably a resource that contains big amounts of energy. Her properties and the phenomena taking place in it categorize 5 forms as a whole, wave energy, tidal energy, thermodynamic energy, energy from the ocean currents and the one based in the phenomenon of osmosis. This diploma thesis deals with the exploitation of energy stored in waves. In one part, are recorded the characteristics of some wave energy utilization facilities with a short mention to the cost of each one and in the second, wave variables are related to the energy generated by certain models and construction curves. The first memorable attempt to absorb wave energy was implemented in 2000 on the west coast of Scotland. This particular installation was known as Limpet and its installed capacity was 500 kW. The prototypes that have been built to date are over 1000 and by February 2013 according to European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) 227 devices are operating worldwide (as shown in Appendix). Concerning the second part, equations have been developed to help the understanding of the units operation and specify the parameters that determine the amount of energy produced for the different categories of chapter 3. In the following chapter models of floating and overtopping technologies are applied in the region of Astypalaia through measurements compiled for the next hundred years (2018-2117)

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