Simulation and characteristics analysis of on-shore OWC system proposal as distributed generation resource considering the irregular wave interaction

Abstract

This article presents the simulation and characterization of an on-shore oscillating water column (OWC) system as part of a distributed generation network considering the irregular interaction of sea waves. The main issue is the adequate calculation of the power generated considering the real variations of the sea waves, employing the stochastic analysis of the wave height and period. The characterization of the wave height was carried out using the Fisher-Tippett Type 1 function, and for the wave period, an empirical probability density function to obtain the instantaneous and accumulated power in an annual period. A basic on-shore OWC system was proposed with different physical dimensions. The theoretical and numerical results present a very similar performance for both turbines (600 W and 25 kW) analyzed. Regarding the 600 W turbine, the resulting accuracy is ≈94.5%, which implies that the annual generated power is 3.13 ± 1.02 MWh/year and the overall efficiency is 23.51% ± 1.9%. However, due to the reduced power generated, the chamber dimensions were modified, achieving 160.61 ± 9.99 MWh/year with an accuracy of ≈93.2%, based on an installed power capacity proposal using a 25 kW turbine. Also, the average overall efficiency for both turbines considering the irregular wave interaction is ≈23.5% and ≈21.1% for 600 W and 25 kW turbines, respectively.