Optimization of the lay-out of a farm of wave energy converters in the North Sea: analysis of wave power resources, wake effects, production and cost

Wave energy holds a lot of possibilities, as oceans contain an infinite amount of energy. In the past many concepts for wave power conversion were invented and tested. A Wave Energy Converter (WEC) converts the kinetic and/or potential energy of waves into electricity. Thus far, none of the concepts for wave power conversion has reached a maturity that makes it economic exploitable due to several technological and non-technological barriers. As the rated power of a single WEC is rather small, several WECs need to be arranged in a geometric configuration or in a `farm'. WECs in a farm are partly absorbing and partly redistributing the incident wave power. The power produced by each individual WEC in the farm is affected by the presence of its neighbouring WECs. The current knowledge about the redistribution of energy inside and behind a farm of WECs is rather limited. Both the power production and cost of a farm are dependent on the lay-out of the farm. So far, most studies concentrate on the optimization of a single WEC, rather than optimizing a complete farm. To develop a commercial technology, the impact of arranging WECs in a farm has to be investigated as well. The optimization of the lay-out of a farm of WECs in the North Sea is the focus of this PhD research. The wave power resources and possible locations for the deployment of a farm of WECs in the North Sea are quantified in a first part of this PhD research. In this PhD work an optimal balance between power production and cost of a farm of WECs is aimed at. Therefore in a second part the wake effects behind a farm of WECs are studied in a time-dependent mild-slope wave propagation model MILDwave, developed at Ghent University. Finally the cost of a farm is discussed in a third part of this PhD work. Moreover an investment analysis of the deployment of a farm of WECs in the southern North Sea is presented