Performance of ocean wave-energy arrays in Australia

Wave energy converters (WEC) range significantly in respect of concept, technologies and design maturation, with the majority of devices at an early-commercial stage. To date, most large scale deployments have been conducted with a single WEC, however there is a necessity to expand this to ‘arrays’ or ‘farms’ in the future. With this, there are complex hydrodynamic implications which require consideration in the evolution from single device to arrays. This paper considers two main issues in array designs, the positioning and coupling effects, which can be directly related to the diffraction property of the waves and the radiation properties of WECs respectively. The work conducted comprises both theoretical and experimental modelling, the latter a novel approach utilising Australia’s most technically advanced wave basin at the Australian Maritime College. The aim is to address a critical knowledge gap: understanding the performance of ocean WEC arrays, and to develop a software tool readily usable by industry, governments and the public to accurately model the performance of arrays of WECs.