Decadal variability of wave power production in the North-East Atlantic and North Sea for the M4 machine. (June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Santo, H.; Taylor, P.H.; Eatock Taylor, R.; Stansby, P.
• Is Part Of: Renewable energy. Volume 91(2016)
• Page Start: 442
• Page End: 450
• Publication Date: 2016-06
• Subjects: M4 wave energy converter -- Wave power variability -- NAO -- Correlation; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Énergies renouvelables -- Périodiques; Ressources énergétiques -- Périodiques; 333.794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2016.01.086
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-1481

Abstract

Abstract: We look at the variability of the power produced by the three-float M4 wave energy converter for locations in the North-East Atlantic and North Sea using the NORA10 hindcast data from 1958−2011. The aim is to investigate whether the produced power is also strongly affected by the climate variability (such as the North Atlantic Oscillations) in the winter, just as the ocean wave power resource as observed in previous studies. In this study, we demonstrate the use of proxy indices in combination with the climate indices to reconstruct a historic practical wave power climate from 1665−2005. We also conduct sensitivity studies to assess the changes in the practical wave power variability in response to perturbing the machine size, the power take-off coefficient, the response bandwidth and the power limit of the power take off. We find that the resultant temporal variation is still dominated by the climate variability. However, the overall variability important for power availability and energy supply economics is smaller than that of the ocean wave power resource because of the finite capture bandwidth of the M4 machine. The statistical methodology presented here is also potentially relevant to other wave energy converters in similar locations. Highlights: We look at the variability of the power produced by the M4 wave energy converter. The practical wave power is dominated by the climate variability (NAO) in the winter. We perform reconstruction of the practical wave power climate from 1665 to 2005. The overall variability of 10% difference in the power output is observed for Orkney. We also conduct sensitivity studies on the key design parameters of the M4 machine.