Abstract
The goal of this paper is to address some of the
main issues arising from the grid integration of Wave Farms.
The real test case offered by bimep (Biscay Marine Energy
Platform) is used to model the grid connection infrastructure and
a wave-to-wire model is developed to evaluate the impact of
different Power Take-Offs (PTOs) when connecting a 20 MW
farm of point absorbers to the local distribution system. The case
of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) equipped with direct driven
squirrel cage induction machines is considered as a worst case,
then electrical generators driven by fully controllable power
electronics interfaces are introduced. Different control strategies,
aimed both at improving the power extraction from the waves
and at controlling the active and reactive power exchange with
the power system, are considered and compared. Both steadystate and dynamic analyses are carried out in order to assess the
performance of the farm under its nominal operation and also to
underline the detrimental effect of the energy source
intermittency. Fault analyses are performed to evaluate the effect
on the system operation of voltage dips. Finally, the usefulness of
WEC inherent energy storage in smoothing the power profile
and mitigating the grid impact of the Wave Farm is shown.