The objective of this project is to develop sensing, prediction, optimization, and control techniques for arrays of ocean wave energy conversion devices, known as wave farms, to make them reliable, efficient, economical, and environmentally benign. The project focuses on operational questions about the cyber-infrastructure required to control and coordinate a wave farm's many autonomous sensing and decision-making functions. Research topics include designing computational tools to assess real-time hydrodynamic interactions of wave energy converters; developing short-term and long-term wave prediction algorithms; using wave condition forecasts to dynamically control arrays of wave energy converters and energy storage systems within wave farms; enabling rapid fault detection tests that use wave sensor data to assess system state; and automating these decision-making processes within a wave farm with a multi-agent control system. The project also assesses and optimizes the sustainability and electricity market potential of wave farms by quantifying the opportunities and gains that wave power producers may avail in the electricity market due to the predictability and consistency of waves, and the effect of optimal wave farm design and control on CO2 emissions. The project includes an educational and workforce development plan to develop and administer an in-ocean course for high school students from the Lehigh Valley, PA at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences on the topic of wave energy; and to engage in community outreach via educational modules and a unique exhibit on wave energy for patrons of the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, PA.
If successful, the project will optimize and estimate the extent to which wave energy can provide green, predictable, dispatchable power to the electricity grid. The results will yield models, algorithms, control strategies, and system architectures to improve the output power of wave farms, reduce operating costs, maximize their environmental benefits, and provide guidance for farm operators in pursuing market opportunities. The project will validate the economic and environmental feasibility of wave power and drive forward the significant research and development efforts currently underway to bring the potential of wave energy conversion to grid-scale fruition. Efficient and economic harvesting of the kinetic energy in ocean waves offers an electricity future with a more diverse supply portfolio, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and higher sustainability impacts. The educational and workforce development components of this project will broaden understanding of the technical and environmental aspects of wave energy among a new generation of engineers and scientists, as well as among the general public.
