Improving the power production of Mutriku Wave Power Plant throughout tuning the actual generator and damping valve limits

Abstract

The Mutriku Wave Power Plant (MWPP) has successfully operated since 2011, demonstrating remarkable operational stability with minimal issues of OWC technology in breakwaters. So far, the design, selection, and operation ranges of the generators at MWPP prioritized reliability. However, once the viability of the technology has been demonstrated, it is important to explore ways to increase energy production with the current design of the technology.The objective of the present work is to improve the power production in MWPP throughout the Power take-off (PTO), increasing the operational limits of the generator and of the damping valve, which is located between the air chamber and the turbine. To this aim, new sensors have been installed in the plant, such as an inlet pressure sensor, to characterise the behaviour of the PTO. Investigations into the power produced and the plant availability have concluded that modifying control laws of the current configuration could help to increase power production under generator thermal operation ranges.The numerical results presented in the paper demonstrate that the potential benefit to the overall energy production of the MWPP could be significant, leading to greater advancements in the feasibility of wave energy technologies. The analysis of changes and improvements into the MWPP control strategies will provide further guidance into the development of novel wave energy control systems and components for future testing.