Advancing Active Control of Wave Energy Converters

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Little to no precision is currently provided in the description of how the national wave energy opportunity can be realized, and the promise of wave energy currently rings hollow with Canadian communities, power project developers, and utilities. In Canada, debate on the long term potential of wave energy converter (WEC) technology has to be complemented with a locally relevant vision that bridges the short and long term and is built on: a precise definition of the raw wave energy resource as represented by a region of strategic importance, the performance of WECs deployed in that strategic region, and detailed integration strategies that detail how intermittent wave power can be exploited. Since present day technical, social and economic circumstances dissuade Canadian investment in prototype WEC demonstrations, this vision must be generated through low cost, environmentally benign and precise computer simulations. Over the past five years, the applicant has created a nationally unique portfolio of field measurement and computer modelling tools that can be used to complete such simulation based WEC research for the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The collective body of research is referred to as the West Coast Wave Initiative. However, towards an accurate definition of the future value of WEC technology to Canada, advanced WEC control strategies, currently on the horizon of commercial development, have to be considered in the WCWI's WEC technology simulations. In the proposed Discovery Grant research program, the applicant seeks to create advanced time domain control strategies for a particular class of WEC - reactionless two-body point absorbers. The control development will be achieved through a combination of mathematical modelling, computer simulation and physical scale model testing. By including the performance benefits of advanced control in the evaluation of a promising class of WEC technology, the proposed Discovery Grant research program will ensure that the WCWI identifies a prudent level of present day WEC investment and motivates the actions necessary to catalyze the formation of a productive Canadian WEC industry.