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The guys on the podcast were saying that the buoy is located 2 km offshore, so not an eyesore as such, though I have not seen one yet, so can't judge.

Seems to be a more reliable solution than wind or solar if it can scale and it is designed to withstand monster waves.

They say they are 3-4 years from deploying real installations (at the moment they have 3 experimental sites).

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Yeah, there are a few different types. One sits on shore and uses wave power to compress air, which then runs turbines. This is probably the most efficient method i've seen. There are a few others though, like the buoy method, etc.

Solar is about the most reliable solution you can come across, aside from an RTG mostly because it has no real moving parts and as such has no real way to fail.

What will be interesting is if they manage to up the energy density to the point where it is economical to build.

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