LiftWEC

A European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme project developing a lift-based Wave Energy Converter.

Although significant effort has been spent in the last 50 years in searching for a commercially-viable technology for extraction of energy from ocean waves, this objective remains unfulfilled. Although a vast number of different concepts have been proposed and investigated, 99% of these concepts have been based on interacting with the waves using either buoyancy or diffraction forces.

The LiftWEC concept is different because it is based on the exploitation of lift forces generated by wave-induced water velocities. By interacting with lift forces the LiftWEC concept has the advantage that the motion can be unidirectional. In addition, the lift-force can easily be reduced so that the concept can survive storms in the same way that modern wind turbines survive, by stopping turning.