Abstract
The shrinking reserves of fossil fuels in combination with the increasing energy demand have enhanced the interest in renewable energy sources, including wave energy. In order to extract a considerable amount of wave power, large numbers of Wave Energy Converters will have to be arranged in arrays or farms using a particular geometrical layout. The operational behaviour of a single device may have a positive or negative effect on the power absorption of the neighbouring WECs in the farm (near-field effects). Moreover, as a result of the interaction between the WECs within a farm, the overall power absorption and the wave climate in the lee of the WECs is modified, which may influence neighbouring farms, other users in the sea or even the coastline (far-field effects). Several numerical studies on large WEC arrays have already been performed, but large scale experimental studies on near-field and far-field wake effects of large WEC arrays are not available in literature. Within the HYDRALAB IV European programme, the research project WECwakes has been introduced to perform large scale experiments in the Shallow Water Wave Basin of DHI, in Denmark, on large arrays of point absorbers for different layout configurations and inter-WEC spacings. The aim is to validate and further develop the applied numerical methods, as well as to optimize the geometrical layout of WEC arrays for real applications.
Highlights
The increasing energy demand, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the shrinking reserves of fossil fuels have all enhanced the interest in sustainable and renewable energy sources, including wave energy
Within the frame of the present research a generic point absorber WEC model has been developed, which will be used in large numbers during the experiments in the wave basin of DHI for studying wake effects of WEC farms
The structural testing of the WEC model has been completed, e.g. stability tests regarding the installation techniques used for the buoy
Summary
The increasing energy demand, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the shrinking reserves of fossil fuels have all enhanced the interest in sustainable and renewable energy sources, including wave energy. In order to extract a considerable amount of wave power, large numbers of Wave Energy Converters (abbreviated as WECs) will have to be arranged in arrays or farms using a particular geometrical layout. The operational behaviour of a single device may have a positive or negative effect on the power absorption of the neighbouring WECs in the farm (so-called near-field effects). The wave height behind a large farm of WECs is reduced and this reduction may influence neighbouring farms, other users in the sea or even the coastline (so-called far-field effects). Two main types of wave energy converters are typically distinguished: type (i) which includes absorption and radiation (a floating body or oscillating water column) and type (ii) which includes only absorption (a fixed or slack moored overtopping device that captures the overtopped waves in a basin above sea level) (Stratigaki et al 2011)
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