There is a growing need for alternative way of power generation due to various reasons such as limited resources of fossil fuels, environmental pollution, increasing cost of conventional fuels and lower energy conversion efficiency in existing systems. In this context, one of the potential alternatives for power generation is wave energy. The average wave potential along the coastal belt in India is around 5–10 kW/m. With a coastal line of approximately 7500 km, even 10% utilization of space would mean a power generation of 7500 MW. Hence, to harness the energy from sea waves, OEC is working on ‘Understanding and Prototype Development of a Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter’. A point absorber wave energy converter comprised of two parts. First is the float which interacts with wave and second is Power Take Off (PTO) system which converts incidence wave energy to electricity. In phase-IA of the project, an optimized buoy design was selected. In phase IB, a lab scale prototype was developed for successful electricity generation as proof of concept. Phase IB focuses on investigating various details of PTO systems.
