Continued investment in renewable energy is helping to brighten the prospects for the sector worldwide, according to analysis from Frost & Sullivan.
The research organisation notes that total wave power generation across the globe now stands at a combined capacity of 6,000 TWh per year.
According to Frost, this is double the planet's nuclear power production capacity and far greater than the amount of tidal energy being generated, which stands at around 700 TWh per year.
Three factors are among the crucial elements of maintaining growth in tidal and wave energy alike into the future, the analyst suggests.
They are investment from public, private and governmental sources, which could require substantial amounts of money to be placed to cover the initial installation costs of the technology at sea.
Wai Loon Chin, technical insights research associate, says: "It is projected that commercialisation of wave and tidal energy will take place in the next five to ten years as the technology evolves and production costs decline."
This commercialisation is in turn expected to arise from the significant market potential of the technology and the scale of the resource that stands to be developed.
Meanwhile, the IDC Energy Insights research programme has looked at the obstacles faced in the US to distributing energy generated through wind power around the country.
In the past ten years, the analyst says, wind reserves have been developed through state-level standards for renewable energy at a rapid rate of growth.
However, the country now faces the problem that the best locations for wind farms are often a long way from where the energy is needed.
As a result of this, long-distance power links are required to help carry the
electricity produced to where it is required.
Rather than building new power lines, however, IDC adds that technologies exist that could increase the capacity of existing networks without adding to the visible infrastructure, such as converting electricity from alternating current to direct current or utilising voltage up-rating.
