Abstract
Within the LAMWEC project, INNOSEA has been responsible for the tank test of the Laminaria WEC. This WEC concept solves the compromise between security and performance by introducing a dual load management system. The average loads are controlled by gradually lowering the device in the water column for increasing HS. In addition, a PTO overdrive limits extreme loads. The dual load management system allows nearly constant loads and power production irrespective of HS. The objectives of the 1 : 16th scale tests in the COAST lab were
to prove the dual load management system and to characterize the mooring loads in representative sea conditions. Laminaria provided the model. INNOSEA designed the test plan, analyse the data and produced the final report.
The loads’ histograms show that the PTO overdrive concept can effectively limit extreme loads. Indeed, the histograms of the tests which activated the PTO overdrive are distorted compared to the typical expectations, showing a limited tail and a bulge of occurrences close to the PTO overdrive threshold. The analysis of the statistical distributions parameters fitted to the mooring load histograms shows that gradually submerging the device is an effective way to manage the average loads.