Engineering Commons^™

Wave Energy Converter Array Optimization: A Genetic Algorithm Approach And Minimum Separation Distance Study, Chris Sharp, Bryony Dupont

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

With the need to integrate renewable energy sources into the current energy portfolio and the proximity of power consumers to ocean coastlines, it is important to evaluate marine energy systems, specifically wave energy converters (WECs), as potential solutions for meeting electricity needs. The ability to model these systems computationally is vital to their eventual deployment. The power development, economics, grid integration requirements, operations and maintenance requirements, and ecological impacts must be understood before these devices are physically installed. However, the research area of WEC array optimization is young, and the few available results of previously implemented optimization methods are preliminary. …