Wave power

Still, the fact remains that very large quantities of the coastal land and a considerable quantity of expansive work would be needed for the generation by means of the tides of any material quantity of power.

It is strange that, while so much has been written and spoken about the possibility of turning the energy of the tides to account for power in the service of man, comparatively little attention has been paid to the problem of similarly utilizing the wave power which goes to waste in such inconceivably huge quantities.

Where the tidal force elevates and depresses the seawater on a shore through a vertical distance of, say, 8 feet about once in every 12 hours, the waves of the ocean will perform the same work during moderate weather once in every 12 or 15 seconds.

It is true that the moon, in its attraction of the seawater, produces a vastly greater sum total of the effect than the wind does in raising the surface waves, but reckoning only that part of the ocean energy which might conceivably be made available for service, it is safe to calculate that the waves offer between 2 and 3,000 times as much opportunity for the capture of natural power and its application to useful work as the tides could ever present.

The windmill gathers up the power generated by the expansion of the air in passing over long stretches of heated ground, while a solar engine cannot command more of the sun's heat than that which falls upon the reflector or condenser of the engine itself.

The latter machine may possibly have a place assigned to it in the industrial economy of the future, but the sum total of the power which it will furnish must always be an insignificant fraction.

The wave power machine, when allied to electric transmission, will without doubt supply in cheap and convenient form a material proportion of the energy required during the 20th century for industrial purposes.

Easy and effective transmission is a sine qua non in this case.

So Luna, last week I was reading the latest annual report from Ocean Energy Europe, and there's a number in there that stopped me cold.

Wave energy installations grew 30% year over year in 2025.

That's the kind of growth you usually see in a software company, not a technology that's been perpetually five years away for the past two decades.

30%? That's not just a blip.

Wave devices are battered by storms, encrusted with barnacles, and they need to keep generating for decades.

The engineering challenge has been enormous.

But we're seeing a shift now, particularly from the Orkney Isles in Scotland, which has become this unlikely hub for wave energy testing.

Orkney.

[upbeat music] As data centers drive an unprecedented demand for electricity, the energy system of the future will need to be smarter, more flexible, and powered by renewables.

Could wave energy hold the key to powering our increasingly digitalized world? To answer that question and explore the fascinating convergence of wave energy and artificial intelligence, I'm joined by two experts at the forefront of these rapidly evolving fields: Dr.

Yufei Tang, associate professor at Florida Atlantic University, and Inna Braverman, founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power.

We discuss how AI could transform the way wave energy is operated, analyzed, and optimized, and we unpack how wave energy could help provide the clean power and cooling infrastructure needed for future data center developments.

Our conversation highlights what the next generation of renewable infrastructure could look like, and how this collaboration between academia and industry is a template for innovation and progress.

I'm Pamela Lag, and this is the Energy Transitions Podcast.

To look into the future of how we can maximize renewables with, with the use of digital tools.

So I think let's just dive straight in.