Why has wave power failed so far?
MT: There are two simple, basic reasons. Number one is the corrosive nature of the environment. You have saltwater, seawater moving in a very disruptive fashion, so if you try to take an off-the-shelf traditional electronic component, hydraulic component and energy-generation system that you would run on land and put that in the ocean, you’re going to have to protect it from the seawater ruining your equipment. Your costs go way up trying to protect it. Let’s assume you canister it somehow to protect it from the nature of the salt interfering with your hydraulics. The next problem is the intermittence of the fuel source. Waves move all over the world at different speeds—the smaller the waves, the more quickly they move; the larger the waves, the slower. There are 4 to 20 seconds difference in movements around the world. In California, I know the number is around 7 to 8 seconds between wave activities. The only time your wave-power machine makes energy is when the wave moves. So if it m
