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IN SEARCH OF NEW SOURCES OF ENERGY

Two concrete blocks at the bottom of sea off the north coast of Scotland are all that is left of the world’s first attempt to build a commercial wave-power plant. When the large yellow 2-megawatt generator was wrecked by waves that were meant to power it, hope died. But the dream of using wave power to generate endless ―clean electricity hasn’t faded. Wave power is not easy to obtain. Researchers had a number of other devices ready to be tested in the water. They learnt lessons from the power plant mentioned above which was wrecked, just as they had from other disappointments. They revised their designs and created new ones. Today, the prospects for wave power have never looked better. For the first time, independent analysts think that electricity, which could be produced from wave power will cost less than that produced from new nuclear and coal-fired stations.

At least 15 wave-power generators are planned across the globe: nine in Europe, four in the Far East, one in the US and one in India, eight of them will have produced energy by 2000. All are robust, realistic designs, shaped by years of trial and error.

Some international experts on wave power think it could supply more than 10 per cent of the world’s electricity and help to solve the problem of drinking water shortages by desolinating sea water. Inspired by this prospect, researchers in Britain have been in the van[1]guard of wave power research.