Estimation of Downtime and of Missed Energy Associated with a Wave Energy Converter by the Equivalent Power Storm Model

Felice Arena, Valentina Laface, Giovanni Malara and Alessandra Romolo
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Felice Arena: Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL), “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy
Valentina Laface: Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL), “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy
Giovanni Malara: Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL), “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy
Alessandra Romolo: Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL), “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: The design of any wave energy converter involves the determination of relevant statistical data on the wave energy resource oriented to the evaluation of the structural reliability and energy performance of the device. Currently, limited discussions concern the estimation of parameters connected to the energy performance of a device. Thus, this paper proposes a methodology for determining average downtime and average missed energy, which is the energy that is not harvested because of device deactivations during severe sea storms. These quantities are fundamental for evaluating the expected inactivity of a device during a year or during its lifetime and are relevant for assessing the effectiveness of a device working at a certain site. For this purpose, the equivalent power storm method is used for their derivation, starting from concepts pertaining to long-term statistical analysis. The paper shows that the proposed solutions provide reliable estimations via comparison with results obtained by processing long wave data.

Keywords: wave power; long-term statistics; downtime; missed energy; wave energy converters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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