On Minimizing the Fluctuations in the Power Generated from a Wave Energy Plant

This paper investigates on the reduction of fluctuations in power generated from a prototype wave energy plant, installed as a part of the on-going Indian wave energy programme, when operated on grid connected mode. The plant, employing an impulse turbine for conversion of differential pressure due to the oscillating water column (OWC) into mechanical shaft power, typically shows a peak to average power ratio of 4.5 to 5.0, which is unacceptable to be readily exported to power grid. A novel method of decoupling the energy storage, by addition of one more energy conversion stage, is tried out. Steady-state based MATLAB - Simulink model and laboratory prototype implementation are carried out and the results are reported. It is seen that the ratio of peak to average power can be brought down to about 1.25, thereby improving the acceptability of power generation from the ocean waves