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New Delhi. You must have heard about solar panels and wind turbines for generating electricity. But now efforts are being made to generate electricity from ocean waves also. For this, a special type of device has been made, which is called Wave Energy Converter i.e. WEC. This device works to convert the movement of sea waves into electricity. Work on this technology is being done in China.

Know how electricity is generated from sea waves?

If we understand in simple language, when the ocean waves go up and down, they contain a lot of energy. WEC works to capture this energy. Some part of the device moves with the waves and this movement is transmitted through mechanical or hydraulic system to the generator that produces electricity.

In some devices, waves rotate the turbine. Some devices use a body that moves up and down or back and forth with the waves of water. That means the design of WEC may be different, but the objective is the same to convert the energy of ocean waves into electricity.

China made big wave energy converter

A lot of work has been done regarding WEC in China. These also include a big device named Nankun. Its weight is said to be around 6,000 tonnes and it has the capacity to generate up to 24,000 kWh of electricity in a day. This is said to be equal to the daily electricity consumption of about 3,500 houses. This is the reason why the discussion regarding wave energy has once again increased. Till now there has been more focus on solar and wind energy, but there is a lot of energy present in ocean waves also.

How different from solar and wind?

Solar panels require sunlight to generate electricity, whereas wind turbines depend on wind. WEC uses the movement of ocean waves. Sea water is heavier than air, so waves can contain a lot of energy. But this does not mean that wave energy can be easily converted into electricity. This requires right place, right design and strong system.

Advances are being made continuously in the wave energy converter technology made in China, if this technology is successful on a large scale then in the future the ocean can also become a major source of clean energy. This means that in success, not only the sun and wind but also the waves of the sea will be considered for electricity.