Abstract
More and more wave energy converter (WEC) concepts are reaching prototypelevel. Once the prototype level is reached, the next step in order to further decrease thelevelized cost of energy (LCOE) is optimizing the overall system with a focus on structuraland maintenance (inspection) costs, as well as on the harvested power from the waves.The target of a fully-developed WEC technology is not maximizing its power output,but minimizing the resulting LCOE. This paper presents a methodology to optimize thestructural design of WECs based on a reliability-based optimization problem and the intentto maximize the investor’s benefits by maximizing the difference between income (e.g., fromselling electricity) and the expected expenses (e.g., structural building costs or failure costs).Furthermore, different development levels, like prototype or commercial devices, may havedifferent main objectives and will be located at different locations, as well as receive varioussubsidies. These points should be accounted for when performing structural optimizationsof WECs. An illustrative example on the gravity-based foundation of the Wavestar deviceis performed showing how structural design can be optimized taking target reliability levelsand different structural failure modes due to extreme loads into account.
Highlights
IntroductionThe cost of electricity from wave energy converters (WECs) is estimated to be between
Nowadays, the cost of electricity from wave energy converters (WECs) is estimated to be between0.30 and 0.38 e/KWh [1]
In order to drive the development of WECs further and make them competitive with other renewable electricity sources, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) needs to be decreased
Summary
The cost of electricity from wave energy converters (WECs) is estimated to be between. In order to drive the development of WECs further and make them competitive with other renewable electricity sources, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) needs to be decreased. Reliability-based optimizations do not focus on maximizing the harvested power output, but consider the whole system, including the benefit from selling electricity, expenses due to the structural design, structural failures, as well as maintenance and inspection costs. At a prototype level, where subsidies for produced electricity are often available, the main purpose is checking the performance of the device, and when it comes to commercial stage, where no or limited subsidies are available and investors need to be convinced to invest in this kind of technology, the purpose will be minimizing LCOE in order to maximize the investor’s own benefit. There is a discussion on some information about the probabilistic design of WEC structures, as well as the change of reliability-based optimal designs for different development stages of WECs
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