Coherent Wave Measurement Buoy Arrays to Support Wave Energy Extraction
Abstract:
Techno-economic studies of several WEC devices have shown significant potential to improve wave energy capture efficiency through operational control strategies that incorporate real-time information about local surface wave motions. Integral Consulting Inc., with ARPA-E support, is partnering with Sandia National Laboratories and Spoondrift LLC to develop a coherent array of wave-measuring devices to relay and enable the prediction of wave-resolved surface dynamics at a WEC location ahead of real time. This capability will provide necessary information to optimize power production of WECs through control strategies, thereby allowing for a single WEC design to perform more effectively across a wide range of wave environments.
The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0000514.