Abstract
This research studies several possibilities to improve the efficiency of the Mutriku breakwater wave power plant. The experimental work has been carried out in the 12.5 m long wave flume located at the laboratory of Fluid Mechanics of the Energy Engineering Department (UPV/EHU). The physically constructed oscillating water column device corresponds to one of the 16 chambers of the Mutriku breakwater wave power plant, according to the construction plan and applying a 1:36 scale. All the experiments were carried out at two tides that correspond to the medium and maximum tides of Mutriku location. A constant incident regular waves of 30 mm were generated at several periods; 0.7<T[s]<1.7 for the medium tide and 0.7<T[s]<2.1 for the maximum tide. The obtained results reveals that the promising configuration corresponds to the one containing lateral walls, so that the influence of harbour walls will be further studied.