PERSPECTIVES

transfer. Since the early 1980s, a well-understood theory has existed for the optimal absorption of energy by WEC arrays of vari-ous geometries, for waves oscillating at a sin-gle frequency (11, 12). Fundamental limits exist for a WEC’s capture width (the lateral width of an incoming wave crest with incident power equal to that being absorbed). Optimal control theory has shown that the capture width can be many times the converter’s phys-ical width (i.e., the converter can attract energy propagating on either side of it, in addition to incident energy), and that multiple converters can exploit constructive interfer-ence to enhance power absorption