Assessment of the influence of the distance between two wave energy converters on energy production

Abstract

In this study, an array of two interacting wave energy converters with hydraulic power take off (PTOs) is considered. A time domain model is derived by using classical linear potential theory. Numerical simulations and parametric studies are performed in order to determine the influence of the distance on the capture width of each system in the array, in both regular and irregular waves. It is shown that when the systems are close, the front system (which meets the waves first) is more affected by wave interaction than the rear system. But the wave interactions decrease faster with the distance for the front system than for the rear system. For this latter system, it seems that the effect of wave interactions remains noticeable even far (14 diameters) from the first system.