scholarly journals Applying International Power Quality Standards for Current Harmonic Distortion to Wave Energy Converters and Verified Device Emulators

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3654
Author(s):  
James Kelly ◽  
Endika Aldaiturriaga ◽  
Pablo Ruiz-Minguela

The push for carbon-free energy sources has helped encourage the development of the ocean renewable energy sector. As ocean renewable energy approaches commercial maturity, the industry must be able to prove it can provide clean electrical power of good quality for consumers. As part of the EU funded Open Sea Operating Experience to Reduce Wave Energy Cost (OPERA) project that is tasked with developing the wave energy sector, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) developed electrical power quality standards for marine energy converters, which were applied to an oscillating water column (OWC). This was done both in the laboratory and in the real world. Precise electrical monitoring equipment was installed in the Mutriku Wave Power Plant in Spain and to an OWC emulator in the Lir National Ocean Test Facility at University College Cork in Ireland to monitor the electrical power of both. The electrical power generated was analysed for harmonic current distortion and the results were compared. The observations from sea trials and laboratory trials demonstrate that laboratory emulators can be used in early stage development to identify the harmonic characteristics of a wave energy converter.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Farrok ◽  
Koushik Ahmed ◽  
Abdirazak Dahir Tahlil ◽  
Mohamud Mohamed Farah ◽  
Mahbubur Rahman Kiran ◽  
...  

Recently, electrical power generation from oceanic waves is becoming very popular, as it is prospective, predictable, and highly available compared to other conventional renewable energy resources. In this paper, various types of nearshore, onshore, and offshore wave energy devices, including their construction and working principle, are explained explicitly. They include point absorber, overtopping devices, oscillating water column, attenuators, oscillating wave surge converters, submerged pressure differential, rotating mass, and bulge wave converter devices. The encounters and obstacles of electrical power generation from the oceanic wave are discussed in detail. The electrical power generation methods of the generators involved in wave energy devices are depicted. In addition, the vital control technologies in wave energy converters and devices are described for different cases. At present, piezoelectric materials are also being implemented in the design of wave energy converters as they convert mechanical motion directly into electrical power. For this reason, various models of piezoelectric material-based wave energy devices are illustrated. The statistical reports and extensive literature survey presented in this review show that there is huge potential for oceanic wave energy. Therefore, it is a highly prospective branch of renewable energy, which would play a significant role in the near future.


2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaswar Jaswar ◽  
C. L. Siow ◽  
A. Maimun ◽  
C. Guedes Soares

Malaysian government introduced Small Renewable Energy Power (SREP) Program such as biomass, biogas, and municipal solid waste, solar photovoltaic and mini-hydroelectric facilities in 2001. In year 2010, the energy generated by biomass was achieved 18 MW and mini hydro also successes to generate around 23 MW. Green Technology and Water Malaysia are targeted by Ministry of Energy to achieve cumulative renewable energy capacity around 2080 MW at year 2020 and 21.4 GW at year 2050. This paper discusses the possibility to utilize ocean wave in Merang shore, Terengganu, Malaysia. The literature reviewed available technologies used to convert wave energy to electricity which are developing currently. The available technologies reviewed here are attenuator, overtopper, point absorbers, oscillating wave surge converter and oscillating water column. The work principle of the device was covered. Finally, the sea condition in Malaysia also studied to analyze the possibility to utilize the wave energy by using the available technologies. It is found that the mean wave height is 0.95 meter and the mean wave period is 3.5 second in the Merang shore, Terengganu, Malaysia. Attenuator type wave converter developed by Wave Star is considered as one of the possible devices to be installed at the location. From the calculation, it is obtained that the total rate electrical power possible to grid is 649 MWh a year if only one set of C5 Wave star device is installed on Merang shore, Terengganu.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cole ◽  
Matthew Fowler ◽  
Razieh Zangeneh ◽  
Anthony Viselli

This paper presents technical details for a unique newly constructed model testing facility for offshore renewable energy devices and other structures established through federal and state funding. The University of Maine (UMaine) has been an active contributor to research in the field of floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) design and scale-model testing for the past 6 years. Due to a lack of appropriate test facilities in the United States, UMaine has led multiple 1:50 scale-model tests of FOWT platforms internationally, leading to the motivation to design and build a state-of-the-art test facility at UMaine which includes high-quality wind generation with waves and towing capabilities. In November of 2015, UMaine opened the Alfond Wind/Wave Ocean Engineering Laboratory (W2) at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center. This facility, shown in Figure 1, contains a 30m long x 9m wide x 0-4.5m variable floor depth test basin with a 16-paddle wave maker at one end and a parabolic wave attenuating beach at the other. This basin is unique in that it integrates a rotatable open-jet wind tunnel over the basin that is capable of simulating high-quality wind fields in excess of 10 m/s over a large test area. Since opening, the W2 has provided testing for various scale-model FOWT designs, oil and gas vessels such as a scale-model floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, and a large number of wave energy conversion (WEC) devices in support of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wave Energy Prize. In addition to scalemodel testing, the W2 facility supports a wide range of model construction equipment including a 2.0m x 4.0m x 0.1m tall 3D CNC waterjet, a 3m long x 1.5m wide x 1.4m tall 5-axis CNC router, and an additive manufacturing facility housing a 0.6m x 0.6m x 0.9m 3D printer. To expand the capability of W2, a towing system is currently being designed to operate in conjunction with the multi-directional wave maker, which is shown in Figure 5. This equipment will provide bi-directional towing for a variety of applications. In addition to standard resistance testing, the broad aspect ratio of the basin provides reduced blockage effects while the multi-directional wave maker allows for tow testing a large number of wave environments and headings. The moving floor enables intermediate to shallow water tow tank tests, which are important for capturing the wave kinematics applicable to coastal environments, while the relatively deep water depths support testing of large structures such as tidal turbines and tow-out operations for THE 30th AMERICAN TOWING TANK CONFERENCE WEST BETHESDA, MARYLAND, OCTOBER 2017 2 large offshore structures such as wind and wave floating energy platforms. To test the capabilities of this system, UMaine is constructing a 1:50-scale model of the David Taylor Model Basin (DTMB) 5415 to perform commissioning tests. The towing system is planned to be operational in 2018.


Author(s):  
Raymond Alcorn ◽  
Anthony Lewis ◽  
Mark Healy

The paper discusses the lessons learned from the European Funded Framework 7 Research project Components for Ocean Renewable Energy Systems (CORES) which developed and trialed new components and systems for ocean energy devices. The authors are the coordinator and project manager so the paper will give this overview of the project. This will include detail of the work packages, major achievements, significant impacts, summary results and outcomes of the sea trials.


Author(s):  
Raúl Cascajo ◽  
Emilio García ◽  
Eduardo Quiles ◽  
Francisco Morant ◽  
Antonio Correcher

Seaports’ energy strategy should rely on the use of renewable energy. Presently, the share of renewable energy used by many of the ports worldwide is negligible. Some initiatives are in the process of implementation to produce some of the energy used by the Port of Valencia, one the largest ports in the Mediterranean Basin. Among these initiatives, a photovoltaic plant with an installed capacity of 5.5 MW is under a tendering process and the assessment studies for the deployment of three to five windmills are close to being finished. However, this is not enough to make it a “zero emissions port” as some of the energy demand would still be covered by fossil fuels. Therefore, we should consider clean alternative energy sources. This article analyses the wave energy resources in the surroundings of the Port of Valencia using a 7-year series of data obtained from numerical modelling (forecast). The spatial distribution of wave power is analysed using data from 3 SIMAR points at Valencia Bay and is compared to the data obtained by the Valencia Buoy I (removed in 2005). The obtained results are used to estimate the power matrices and the average energy output of two wave energy converters suitable to be integrated into the port’s infrastructure. Finally, the wave energy converters’ production is compared to the average amount of energy that is forecast to be obtained from other renewable sources such as solar and wind. Due to the nature of the Gulf’s wave climate (mostly low waves), the main conclusion is that the energy obtainable from the waves in the Valencia Gulf will be in correlation with such climate. However, when dealing with great energy consumers every source of production is worthwhile and further research is needed to optimize the production of energy from renewable sources and its use in an industrial environment such as ports.


Author(s):  
T. Strager ◽  
A. Martin dit Neuville ◽  
P. Fernández López ◽  
G. Giorgio ◽  
T. Mureşan ◽  
...  

When analytically optimising the control strategy in wave energy converters which use a point absorber, the efficiency aspect is generally neglected. The results presented in this paper provide an analytical expression for the mean harvested electrical power in non-ideal efficiency situations. These have been derived under the assumptions of monochromatic incoming waves and linear system behaviour. This allows to establish the power factor of a system with non-ideal efficiency. The locus of the optimal reactive control parameters is then studied and an alternative method of representation is developed to model the optimal control parameters. Ultimately we present a simple method of choosing optimal control parameters for any combination of efficiency and wave frequency.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Chia-Nan Wang ◽  
Nguyen Thanh ◽  
Chih-Chiang Su

With about a 7% average annual economic growth rate in Vietnam, the demand for electricity production is increasing, and, with more than 3000 km of coastline, the country has great potential for developing wave energy sources to meet such electricity production. This energy source, also known as renewable energy, comes from tides, wind, heat differences, flows, and waves. Both wind and wave energy are considered to have the most potential for energy sources in Vietnam. Just as hydropower projects are controversial due to depleting water resources and regulating floods, nuclear power projects cause safety concerns. To overcome this problem, Vietnamese scientists are considering using abundant wave energy resources for electricity. Nowadays, the ocean energy sector offers many new technologies to help minimize carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in the living environment. Further, many countries already have wave power plants. In this research, an integrated model, combining the fuzzy analytical network process (FANP) and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), is proposed for wave energy plant location selection. As a result, Con Co (SITE3) is determined the best site for wave energy production. The primary aim of this study is to provide insight into site selection problems for renewable energy investments of Vietnam. The contribution of this research is to propose a fuzzy multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for site selection in the renewable energy sector. The proposed model also can address different complex problems in location selection; it is also a flexible design model for considering the evaluation criteria; further, it is applicable to site selection of other renewable energies in the world.


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