Abstract
The University of Western Australia, in collaboration with Carnegie Clean Energy and with the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has undertaken a four-year research programme aimed at developing ocean engineering solutions to reduce the levelised cost of wave energy.
The research programme focused on developing a multidisciplinary optimisation approach that considers not only maximisation of the power production but minimisation of cabling and foundation infrastructure costs. Specifically, the approach enables the identification of the optimal location and configuration of an array of wave energy converters as a function of wave resources, seabed characteristics and potential coastal impacts. In this context, the optimal location is the location that exhibits the lowest ratio of cost of infrastructure to mean power output.
The approach developed is illustrated by exploring the virtual development of an array of twenty Carnegie Clean Energy’s CETO6 wave energy converters in Torbay, near Albany, Western Australia. The CETO6 device is a point absorber wave energy converter with a power rating of 1 MW.
The innovation achieved by this research programme is twofold: in the holistic consideration of multiple parameters to identify the optimal array location, and in the techniques developed to optimise array configuration and foundation design.
While the outcomes and savings demonstrated are specific to the virtual array, site and ground conditions considered, the approach and the techniques developed can be used for any potential wave energy farm, but also for fixed or floating wind farms.