“Technical and non-technical issues towards the commercialisation of wave energy converters”
The PhD Dissertation can be downloaded here.
The thesis elaborates on the necessary steps and on the different difficulties that appear during the development of a wave energy converter. It focuses on seven key areas which appear when a wave energy converter is going through the initial sea trials. All these subjects are of relevance to successfully reach the commercialisation of wave energy converters and need attention from the sector as such, not least from device developers.
These seven areas are:
- Regulatory frameworks for wave energy developments.
- The role of stakeholder´s and of the public’s opinion on project’s implementation.
- Evaluation of the power performance of WECs in sea trials, according to a recently-developed methodology.
- Opportunities to grid-connect offshore wave energy projects and the synergies in this area with offshore wind energy projects.
- Benefits of including wave energy in diversified renewable energy systems, chiefly with respect to power output variability and availability.
- Predictability of waves, and assessment of the value of wave forecasting in electricity markets.
- Economic assessment of wave energy projects.
The scope of the thesis is broad and embraces subjects that can be categorised within technical and non-technical disciplines. This combination of findings leads to an overview of the wave energy field and of wave energy converter developments.
The thesis underlines hindrances that can affect developments when wave energy converters are commissioned and the benefits wave energy brings to energy systems, especially when wave and wind generation is combined.
The PhD was carried out from April 2010 to March 2013 at the Civil Engineering Department of Aalborg University (within the wave energy research group) in collaboration with Spok ApS. It was supervised by Jens Peter Kofoed (Head of the Wave Energy Research Group of Aalborg University) and Hans Christian Sørensen (CEO of Spok ApS).
The PhD Assessment Committee was formed by Gregorio Iglesias (Professor at Plymouth University), Jochem Weber (Principal Investigator of Carrigane) and Michael Rasmussen (Associate Professor at Aalborg University).
Handouts of the PhD Defence can be found here.
The figure below shows the development of a wave energy project presented in the Thesis.
