ABSTRACT

Cost of wave power conversion to electricity is analyzed for the cases of converter attached to the structures to work as a breakwater. Two types of breakwater are considered, which are a caisson type for common breakwater and a pile & wall type for detached upright breakwater for protection of erosive Coasts. As the converter Pendulor system is employed, which had been developed by the authors.

INTRODUCTION

Necessity of utilization of renewable energy has been focused due to the trend of resource shortage of oil and the environmental pollution in the course of power production from it. Wave power is one of the promising renewable energy resources at the new century though little substantial use is realized presently (W.G. for W.E.C., 2000). Since 1980 the group of researchers and engineers from Muroran Institute of Technology and the other organizations had developed a wave power extracting system, later named Pendulor, and confirmed its high efficiency from a series of the sea test (Watabe, 1993). The sketch of the outline of Pendulor system is shown in Fig.1. The present study analyses the cost effectiveness of the two breakwater systems equipped with Pendulor system. One is the original system developed which is a caisson type having a water chamber formed by the two side walls, a back wall and the pendulum plate hung from the top of caisson (See Fig. 2). It could convert more than 60% of incident wave power to the oscillating power of pendulum at sea. The second one is a pervious detached breakwater type (See Fig. 3). The system is planned so as to distribute the incident wave power to the reflected and transmitted powers nearly the same ratios as the rubble breakwater, meanwhile it can extract considerable part of the incident wave power (Kondo, 1997).

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