Marine Energy Microgrid and Power Electronics Webinar Series - Advancing Power Electronics for Wave Energy Converters

Most energy resources vary over the course of days, hours, or minutes, but wave energy fluctuates on the scale of seconds. This leads to power generation with significant peak-to-average ratios and frequent periods of zero output. These unique characteristics pose challenges for wave energy converter (WEC) power electronics that remain largely underexplored in both industry and academia. Over the past 2 years, NLR researchers have investigated a variety of power electronic topologies inspired by other energy sources. Rigorous full-WEC simulations have identified promising topologies with the potential to outperform traditional power takeoff systems in deployed WECs. Using power-hardware-in-the-loop testing and physical prototypes, NLR researchers provide valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of different energy conversion approaches applied to wave energy. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of advanced power electronic solutions to unique challenges in wave energy that improve the efficiency and performance of wave energy converters.