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A full-scale prototype of a wave power plant has been installed off the Swedish west coast and the overall wave energy converter concept has been verified. Initial results have been collected and significant insights discovered. Energy absorption dependency on load as well as output voltage and power is demonstrated. It is shown that great overload capability of the directly driven linear generator is critical, and indicated that, for resistive loads, optimal load does not vary with wave climate. Future grid supplying energy production would necessitate parks of wave power plants in order to reduce power fluctuations.

This paper provides a status update on the development of the Swedish wave energy research area located close to Lysekil on the Swedish West coast. The Lysekil project is run by the Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion at Uppsala University. The project was started in 2004 and currently has permission to run until the end of 2013. During this time period 10 grid-connected wave energy converters, 30 buoys for studies on environmental impact, and a surveillance tower for monitoring the interaction between waves and converters will be installed and studied. To date the research area holds one complete wave energy converter connected to a measuring station on shore via a sea cable, a Wave Rider™ buoy for wave measurements, 25 buoys for studies on environmental impact, and a surveillance tower. The wave energy converter is based on a linear synchronous generator which is placed on the sea bed and driven by a heaving point absorber at the ocean surface. The converter is directly driven, i.e. it has no gearbox or other mechanical or hydraulic conversion system. This results in a simple and robust mechanical system, but also in a somewhat more complicated electrical system.

The ocean are largely an untapped source of energy. However, compared to other energies, power fluctuations for ocean waves are small over longer periods of time. This paper present a grid-oriented approach to electricity production from ocean waves, utilizing a minimal amount of mechanical components.

Anoffshore wave energy converter (WEC) was successfully launched at theSwedish west coast in the middle of March 2006. TheWEC is based on a permanent magnet linear generator locatedon the ocean floor driven by a point absorber. Ameasuring station has been installed on a nearby island whereall measurements and experiments on the WEC have been carriedout. The output voltage from the generator fluctuates both inamplitude and frequency and must therefore be converted to enablegrid connection. In order to study the voltage conversion, themeasure station was fitted with a six pulse diode rectifierand a capacitive filter during the autumn of 2006. Theobject of this paper is to present a detailed descriptionof the existing wave energy system of the Islandsberg project.Special attention will be given to the power absorption bythe generator when it is connected to a non linearload

The first offshore prototype of a wave energy converter system has been launched off the Swedish west coast. The concept is based on a point absorber directly coupled to a linear generator located on the ocean floor. The wave energy converter is part of a research project that will study the electric system of ten units forming a small farm of wave power plants as they are linked and connected to an electric grid. A full scale farm will consist of a large number of interconnected units. The chosen direct drive system reduces the mechanical complexity of the converter but has repercussions on the electric system. The output from the generator will vary with the speed of the point absorber, leading to large fluctuations of power on the second scale. This has implications on both the individual generator and on the system as a whole. The hydrodynamic behavior of the point absorber depends, to a large extent, on the damping of the generator. The damping, in turn, can be remotely controlled by changing the load resistance. It has previously been shown that this has a large influence on the power absorbed by the wave energy converter. This paper investigates the peak power, the translator speed, and the variance of the power at different sea states and for different levels of damping. The peak power has an impact on the design of the generator and the required ability, for a single unit, to handle electric overloads. The momentum of the translator is directly proportional to its speed. The speed is thus important for the design of the end stop. The variance of the power of one unit will have an impact on the farm system behavior. The study is based on two and a half months of experimental measurements on the prototype wave energy converter and a wave measurement buoy. The aim is to analyze whether load control strategies may influence the dimensioning criteria for the electric system and the generator. The results are compared to previously investigated relationships between the absorbed mean power and the load resistance as a function of sea state. In the study, it was found that the maximum power is approximately proportional to the average power, while the maximum translator speed and standard deviation decrease as the damping factor is increased.

A full scale prototype of a wave power plant based on a direct drive linear generator driven by a point absorber has been installed at the west coast of Sweden. In this paper, experimentally collected data of energy absorption for different electrical loads are used to verify a model of the wave power plant including the interactions of wave, buoy, generator, and external load circuit. The wave-buoy interaction is modeled with linear potential wave theory. The generator is modeled as a nonlinear mechanical damping function that is dependent on piston velocity and electric load. The results show good agreement between experiments and simulations. Potential wave theory is well suited for the modeling of a point absorber in normal operation and for the design of future converters. Moreover, the simulations are fast, which opens up for simulations of wave farms.

This paper investigates the sensitivity of a wave power system to variations in still water levels and significant wave heights. The system consists of a floating point absorber connected to a linear generator on the seabed. Changing still water levels are expected to affect the power absorption, since they will displace the equilibrium position for the generator translator. Similarly, changing significant wave heights will affect the rate at which the translator leaves the stator. Both these effects will in some cases result in a smaller active area of the stator. A theoretical expression to describe this effect is derived, and compared to measured experimental values for the wave energy converter at the Lysekil research site. During the time of measurements, the still water levels at the site were in the range of [-0.70 m, +0.46 m], and the significant wave heights in the range of [0 m, 2.7 m]. The experimental values exhibit characteristics similar to those of the theoretical expression, especially with changing significant wave heights.

A concept for a wave power plant is being developed at the Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion at the A˚ngström Laboratory at Uppsala University. The concept is based on a permanent magnet linear generator placed on the seabed, directly driven by a surface following buoy. Critical for the survival of the generator is that the air gap between the moving and static parts of the generator is constantly fixed at the designed width to prevent the moving and static parts from connecting during operation. This paper shows the design and evaluation of an inductive sensor for measuring the air gap width during generator operation. In order to survive during years on the seafloor inside the wave power plants, the sensor has deliberately been chosen to be a passive component, as well as robust and compact. A coil etched on a printed circuit board, i.e., a search coil, was the chosen basis for the sensor. The sensor has been tested on an existing test rig of a wave power plant and the results have been compared with finite element simulations.The results show that a search coil magnetic sensor etched on a printed circuit board is a suitable concept for measuring the air gap width. Experimentally measured and theoretically calculated sensor signals show very good agreement. The setup has a sensitivity of +/-0.4 mm in the range of 4-9.5 mm air gap. The potential for future improvements of the sensitivity is considerable.

This paper presents and discusses the wave climate off the Swedish west coast It is based on 8 years (1997-2004) of wave data from 13 sites, nearshore and offshore, in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. The data is a product of the WAM and SWAN wave models calibrated at one site by a wave measurement buoy. It is found that the average energy flux is approximately 5.2 kW/m in the offshore Skagerrak, 2.8 kW/m in the nearshore Skagerrak, and 2.4 kW/m in the Kattegat. One of the studied sites, i.e. site 9, is the location of a wave energy research site run by the Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion at Uppsala University. This site has had a wave power plant installed since the spring of 2006, and another seven are planned to be installed during 2008. Wave energy as a renewable energy source was the driving interest that led to this study and the results are briefly discussed from this perspective.