Abstract
Economic efficiency and structural reliability are strongly required for ocean energy exploration. The integration of wave energy converter and floating offshore wind turbine has the potential to reduce the cost of energy since they can share the mooring system and the infrastructure of power grid. In this study, oscillating-water-column-type wave energy converters mounted on a semisubmersible-type floating wind turbine are considered. The wave energy converter is designed not only to capture wave energy but also to work as a damper of the semisubmersible for helping on enhancing the fatigue life of the wind turbine. Controllers for the wave energy converter and wind turbine for reducing the pitch motion of the semisubmersible are also presented in the study. The experimental results illustrate that the pitch of semisubmersible can be reduced by the controllers in most of the cases. However, the effectiveness of the controllers could be limited by the capacity of the wave energy converter especially when the motion of the floating turbine is large.