Wave Energy
Waves have the highest energy density of any renewable resource. The Minerals Management Service has a good page about wave energy basics and potential regulation. The Electric Power Research Institute's Ocean Energy project has the best detailed information about wave energy and how and where it can be harvested. The BWEA has nice animations of devices. The European Marine Energy Centre is testing wave energy converters. PESWIKI has a great page of links to most wave energy developers. The State of Oregon has declared its intention to be the national leader in wave energy development.
Click left to see large picture of the Pelamis wave energy converter. This is perhaps the most advanced device for long period waves such as those in the North Pacific ocean. The Finavera Ltd. company has a nice movie of their wave energy project proposed in Oregon. There are many different wave energy converters and no clear leader in technology. The power density from wave energy farms appears to be about 2 MW/km2. We expect wave technology to stabilize and become a reliable power source in about ten years, by 2020.
A major cost of wave energy projects will be underwater cables for power transmission. But this problem can be reduced by attaching the wave energy converters to power cables from offshore wind turbines that are already in place. The high energy output of the wind turbines makes the cables economical. They can be designed with "taps" for cables to wave devices when they become available and reliable. This will reduce the cost of wave energy at a wind site by as much as 50% depending on the technologies.