A WAVE-DRIVEN generator with virtually no moving parts could make wave power a more efficient and competitive form of renewable energy. The key to the device, dubbed the Snapper, is the way it converts a slow, steady wave motion into an efficient current-generating jackhammer-like action.
Despite growing enthusiasm for wave power in countries such as the UK and Portugal, wave-driven generators are still dogged by heavy start-up costs and low efficiency. Generators produce electricity most efficiently when a small force is applied at high velocity. Waves tend to produce large, slow-moving forces, so most generators have to resort to turbines…
