Overall tidal farm optimal design–Application to the Alderney Race and the Fromveur Strait (France)

Abstract

This article presents an overall optimization method of Tidal Energy Converters arrangement and their electrical connection topology. This methodology is implemented as a software tool and formulated as a bi-level programming where two sequential genetic algorithms are used. A semi-analytical method is adopted to evaluate the loss of production caused by the wake effect. Electrical connection costs as well as line losses are taken into account. This developed tool takes a large panel of variables into consideration and delivers an optimal number of turbines and their locations, optimal AC electrical architecture and optimal sizing of electrical equipment as its output. The optimization approach is applied to the Alderney Race and the Fromveur Strait which represent the first and the second greatest tidal potential in France, respectively. The results show that the energy production cost considerably differs from one site to another and it strongly depends on the size of the farm.