HYDROPOWER PLANT AS FUTURE OF RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY

Ocean waves are an immense, unused source of energy. Since global attention is nowadays constantlybeing drawn to the fact that the level of CO2 is rising, creating the so called “greenhouse effect”, and influencingfurther climate changes, the focus on generating electricity from renewable sources forces itself as an importantarea of future research. The possibility to exploit the energy potential created by sea waves indisputably exists.Various researches conducted in the field of unused energy sources prove the necessity of seriously consideringthis potential of sea waves. The illustration of this point in noted in a recently performed estimation that up to 15per cent of current UK electricity demand could be met by wave energy, and when this is combined with tidalstream generation, even up to 20 per cent of the UK demand for electrical power could be met. This paperintroduces the readers to the topic of water power, as a natural source of renewable energy, investigating thepossibility of using power of waves as one of the technically and ecologically appropriate solutions of exploitingthis renewable natural source. It is a fact widely acknowledged that climate change and global warming are thenumber-one challenge of the contemporary world; practically every available research predicts that with thecurrent rate of development the world is heading for at least 2, and even more likely 3-4, degrees warmerclimate by the end of this century. As energy production and use account for two-thirds of global greenhousegasemissions, the energy industry is in a key role to cut emissions – while powering economic growth, boostingenergy security and increasing energy access. In view of this, hydropower can make a major contribution toclimate change mitigation. Not only is hydropower practically CO₂-free, thus eliminating its possiblecontribution to the greenhouse effect, but it is also both more efficient and flexible compared with existing fossilalternatives for base load and balancing power. Even though the world is aware of the potential of hydropower,and despite the fact that many wave energy devices are nowadays being investigated, most of these are currentlyat the research and development stage, with only a small range of devices having been tested at large scale,deployed in the oceans. Thus, one of the goals of this paper would be to present the technology used to turn thepower of waves unto electric power, as well as the various types of turbines and devices which represent thelatest technological achievements in this area. The goal of this paper is also to present the existing devices, theirmanner of functioning, and their efficiency and safety from the environmental aspect. It is also important to notethat hydropower’s own overall environmental impact is limited, thus making hydropower more benevolent tothe environment than other energy sources that have been exploited so far.