Active Sea Wall Protection

On the south coast of England at a place called Dawlish, the railway line runs next to the sea. Every week a train load of rocks is dumped in the sea to stop the line being washed away.

If a line of wave generation machines were installed just off the coast, consisting of those that float on the surface and generate electricity as they move up and down with the waves, it would reduce the energy of the waves crashing on the shore.

Admittedly there is alot of energy in these waves as they come in off the Atlantic. It might take more than one defensive line to reduce the energy to a more managable amount. I expect you would need submerged turbines as well.

Ofcourse the additional bonus is clean power and the reduced cost of the stone could be used to offset the cost of the turbines.