Abstract
A critical aspect to evaluate in wave energy projects is the capacity to survive extreme events. These events are mainly caused by weather conditions which expose devices to extreme sea states and non-linear loads such as breaking wave impacts. The extreme loads exerted on the devices, which are much higher than operational loads, place special demands on the mooring and Power take off (PTO) systems, increasing the possibility of damage and, therefore, generating higher repair costs. In the present work, an experimental approach is followed to evaluate loads exerted by solitary waves over two generic WEC models. Simulations were performed in the Wave and Towing Tank of Universidad Austral de Chile.