Abstract
In the present paper, we investigate the feasibility of wave electricity production in Italian seas by the deployment of the Seabased wave energy converter (WEC). A numerical model of the coupled buoy-generator system is presented, which simulates the behavior of the wave energy converter under regular waves of different wave heights and periods. The hydrodynamic forces, including excitation force, radiation impedance and hydrostatic force, are calculated by linear potential wave theory, and an analytical model is used for the linear generator. Two buoys of different radii are considered to explore the effect of buoy dimension on energy conversion and device efficiency. The power output is maximized by adding a submerged object to the floating buoy, in order to bring the system into resonance with the typical wave frequencies of the sites. The simulation results show a very good agreement with the published data on the Seabased WEC. The model is used to estimate energy production at eight Italian offshore locations. The results indicate that the degree of utilization of the device is higher than 20% at the two most energetic Italian sites (Alghero and Mazara del Vallo) and that it can be considerably increased if the floating body is connected to a submerged object, thanks to the resonant behavior of the WEC. In this case, the degree of utilization of the device would be higher than 40% at most of the study sites, with the highest value at Mazara del Vallo. The work enlarges the perspective, to be confirmed by experimental tests and more accurate numerical modeling, on clean electric power production from ocean waves in the Italian seas.
Highlights
Electricity generation from clean, safe and sustainable energy sources is nowadays a priority for many industrialized countries to meet increased energy demand and to reduce CO2 emissions.An extremely promising renewable resource, which could provide substantial clean energy supply, is represented by surface ocean waves [1].Wave electricity production has attracted the interest of governments and industry since the oil crisis of 1973, but wave power technologies are still in the research and development phase [2]
We investigate the feasibility of wave electricity production in Italian seas by the deployment of the Seabased wave energy converter (WEC)
The power output of the device was calculated for each sea state to obtain the so-called power matrix, which is a bivariate matrix indicating the average power generated by the WEC as a function of significant wave height and wave period
Summary
Wave electricity production has attracted the interest of governments and industry since the oil crisis of 1973, but wave power technologies are still in the research and development phase [2]. Further research is still needed to develop reliable wave power conversion technologies, which could be economically competitive in the global energy market. Wave energy production has low visual and environmental impact, negligible land use and follows the seasonal variability of energy demand in temperate climates [8]. These favorable aspects of ocean wave energy together with its enormous potential strongly motivate and support the scientific community in finding viable and profitable engineering solutions to capture energy from waves
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