Solutions to today energy challenges need to be
explored through alternative, renewable and clean energy
sources to enable a diverse energy resource plan. An extremely
abundant and promising source of energy exists in oceans.
Ocean energy exists in many forms. Among these forms,
significant opportunities and benefits have been identified in the
area of ocean wave energy extraction, i.e., harnessing the wave
motions and converting them into electrical energy.
Regarding this emerging and promising area of research,
this paper presents ocean wave energy fundamentals and then
reviews the fundamental concepts and the main projects around
the world. It also reports issues regarding electrical generator
topologies associated to wave energy converters.