2. Wave technology

2.1 Operating principles

To date, more than a thousand patents have been filed for devices designed to harness wave energy, and more than a hundred such devices are under development worldwide.

It would be tedious to detail all these technologies. Fortunately, the vast majority are based on one of the following three operating principles:

• overtopping devices ;

• oscillating water column (OWC) systems;

• wave-activated float systems (wave activated bodies or oscillating bodies).

On this basis, it is then possible to construct a classification of systems, the most widely accepted of which is that established by Falcão...