IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v331y2025ics0360544225024132.html

Optimization of wave energy converter arrays: Assessing climate change and fatigue effects

Author

Listed:
  • Chulahwat, Akshat
  • Jia, Gaofeng
  • Mahmoud, Hussam
  • Tom, Nathan

Abstract

The deployment of wave energy converters (WECs) in arrays (or wave farms) presents significant potential for extracting energy from the oceans. However, factors like climate change and deterioration (e.g., due to fatigue) may have significant impact on the design and performances of wave farms. In this study, a comparative analysis is conducted for several sites along the coastal regions of the United States to elucidate the impact of evolving wave characteristics over the next century and fatigue damage accumulation on the performance of WEC arrays. A heuristic optimization framework is proposed to maximize the expected power generation while taking into consideration failure due to fatigue damage accumulation over time. To efficiently evaluate the expected power generation for different layout designs under different wave climate, an efficient stochastic simulation approach is proposed to propagate the uncertainties in wave characteristics. Extensive analyses were carried out under historical wave data and under two climate change scenarios, namely Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5, and under scenarios with and without consideration of fatigue. The impacts of climate change and fatigue on the optimal array layout and long-term power generation are investigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Chulahwat, Akshat & Jia, Gaofeng & Mahmoud, Hussam & Tom, Nathan, 2025. "Optimization of wave energy converter arrays: Assessing climate change and fatigue effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:331:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225024132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225024132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.136771?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angélique Melet & Benoit Meyssignac & Rafael Almar & Gonéri Le Cozannet, 2018. "Under-estimated wave contribution to coastal sea-level rise," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 234-239, March.
    2. Pau Mercadé Ruiz & Vincenzo Nava & Mathew B. R. Topper & Pablo Ruiz Minguela & Francesco Ferri & Jens Peter Kofoed, 2017. "Layout Optimisation of Wave Energy Converter Arrays," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Louise O’Boyle & Björn Elsäßer & Trevor Whittaker, 2017. "Experimental Measurement of Wave Field Variations around Wave Energy Converter Arrays," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Clément, Alain & McCullen, Pat & Falcão, António & Fiorentino, Antonio & Gardner, Fred & Hammarlund, Karin & Lemonis, George & Lewis, Tony & Nielsen, Kim & Petroncini, Simona & Pontes, M. -Teresa & Sc, 2002. "Wave energy in Europe: current status and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 6(5), pages 405-431, October.
    5. Malin Göteman & Cameron McNatt & Marianna Giassi & Jens Engström & Jan Isberg, 2018. "Arrays of Point-Absorbing Wave Energy Converters in Short-Crested Irregular Waves," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Francesco Ferri & Simon Ambühl & Boris Fischer & Jens Peter Kofoed, 2014. "Balancing Power Output and Structural Fatigue of Wave Energy Converters by Means of Control Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-28, April.
    7. Calvário, M. & Gaspar, J.F. & Kamarlouei, M. & Hallak, T.S. & Guedes Soares, C., 2020. "Oil-hydraulic power take-off concept for an oscillating wave surge converter," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 1297-1309.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Collins, Ieuan & Hossain, Mokarram & Dettmer, Wulf & Masters, Ian, 2021. "Flexible membrane structures for wave energy harvesting: A review of the developments, materials and computational modelling approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Wang, Yuhan & Dong, Sheng, 2022. "Array of concentric perforated cylindrical systems with torus oscillating bodies integrated on inner cylinders," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    3. Guo, Bingyong & Ringwood, John V., 2021. "Geometric optimisation of wave energy conversion devices: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    4. Erfan Amini & Danial Golbaz & Fereidoun Amini & Meysam Majidi Nezhad & Mehdi Neshat & Davide Astiaso Garcia, 2020. "A Parametric Study of Wave Energy Converter Layouts in Real Wave Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Morim, Joao & Cartwright, Nick & Hemer, Mark & Etemad-Shahidi, Amir & Strauss, Darrell, 2019. "Inter- and intra-annual variability of potential power production from wave energy converters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1224-1241.
    6. Mota, P. & Pinto, J.P., 2014. "Wave energy potential along the western Portuguese coast," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 8-17.
    7. Min Chen & Songwei Sheng & Yaqun Zhang & Zhenpeng Wang & Kunlin Wang & Jiaqiang Jiang, 2025. "Model Test and Sea Trial of a Multi-Absorber 1 MW Wave Energy Converter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Xiaohui Zeng & Qi Wang & Yuanshun Kang & Fajun Yu, 2022. "A Novel Type of Wave Energy Converter with Five Degrees of Freedom and Preliminary Investigations on Power-Generating Capacity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    9. Josh Davidson & John V. Ringwood, 2017. "Mathematical Modelling of Mooring Systems for Wave Energy Converters—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-46, May.
    10. Rusu, Eugen & Guedes Soares, C., 2009. "Numerical modelling to estimate the spatial distribution of the wave energy in the Portuguese nearshore," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1501-1516.
    11. van Nieuwkoop, Joana C.C. & Smith, Helen C.M. & Smith, George H. & Johanning, Lars, 2013. "Wave resource assessment along the Cornish coast (UK) from a 23-year hindcast dataset validated against buoy measurements," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Lisboa, Rodrigo C. & Teixeira, Paulo R.F. & Torres, Fernando R. & Didier, Eric, 2018. "Numerical evaluation of the power output of an oscillating water column wave energy converter installed in the southern Brazilian coast," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1115-1124.
    13. Leijon, Mats & Skoglund, Annika & Waters, Rafael & Rehn, Alf & Lindahl, Marcus, 2010. "On the physics of power, energy and economics of renewable electric energy sources – Part I," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1729-1734.
    14. Pasta, Edoardo & Faedo, Nicolás & Mattiazzo, Giuliana & Ringwood, John V., 2023. "Towards data-driven and data-based control of wave energy systems: Classification, overview, and critical assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    15. Luca Martinelli & Giulio Capovilla & Matteo Volpato & Piero Ruol & Chiara Favaretto & Eva Loukogeorgaki & Mauro Andriollo, 2023. "Experimental Investigation of a Hybrid Device Combining a Wave Energy Converter and a Floating Breakwater in a Wave Flume Equipped with a Controllable Actuator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Wang, Zhifeng & Dong, Sheng & Li, Xue & Guedes Soares, C., 2016. "Assessments of wave energy in the Bohai Sea, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 145-156.
    17. Mustapa, M.A. & Yaakob, O.B. & Ahmed, Yasser M. & Rheem, Chang-Kyu & Koh, K.K. & Adnan, Faizul Amri, 2017. "Wave energy device and breakwater integration: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 43-58.
    18. Kasiulis, Egidijus & Punys, Petras & Kofoed, Jens Peter, 2015. "Assessment of theoretical near-shore wave power potential along the Lithuanian coast of the Baltic Sea," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 134-142.
    19. Craig Jones & Grace Chang & Kaustubha Raghukumar & Samuel McWilliams & Ann Dallman & Jesse Roberts, 2018. "Spatial Environmental Assessment Tool (SEAT): A Modeling Tool to Evaluate Potential Environmental Risks Associated with Wave Energy Converter Deployments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-19, August.
    20. Pasquale Contestabile & Vincenzo Ferrante & Diego Vicinanza, 2015. "Wave Energy Resource along the Coast of Santa Catarina (Brazil)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-25, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:331:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225024132. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.