Modeling of a wave farm export cable for electro-thermal sizing studies

Abstract

So far, only few studies have addressed the techno-economic optimization of an export cable sizing in the specific case of wave energy farms. However, in these works, the cable current rating is determined based on conservative steady-state conditions regarding the farm current output whereas considering dynamic conditions may be more relevant in the case of wave energy applications. However, this implies developing and using dedicated electro-thermal models, which poses a challenge regarding the determination of the modeling fineness level to be adopted for such studies. Hence, this paper presents several numerical models, the most refined of which is compared with experimental data, as well as well as preliminary cable sizing studies. Contrary to previous works in this field, the fluctuating nature of wave energy is considered here, thus allowing for more realistic results.

Near-optimal use of a MRE export cable considering thermal and techno-economic aspects

“…To reinforce the applicative aspect of our method, which considers real sea-states data of the SEM-REV site, and to focus on a real-life example, our case studies considered the 24 km, 20 kV export cable, which is physically installed in the SEM-REV test-site [6]. As in previous studies, the cable core temperature is calculated using an experimentally-validated 2D electro-thermal model developed in Matlab [4], [5]. The whole model, which is composed of the cable and the soil, has been discretized into a thermal equivalent electric circuits composed of thermal resistances and thermal capacitances.…”

“…Case 1 is considered to be the initial and existing WEC farm, where only maximum current constraints were considered to determine the number of WECs, which has been shown to be a conservative approach in previous work [4]. Case 2, where N W EC remains constant, temperature constraints instead of current constraints are considered.…”

“…It is likely that these test sites managers would be interested in maximising the use of their existing infrastructure by increasing the allowed installed power capacity, while also considering the economic yield of this extension. It is important to emphasize that the currently used design methods are based on electrical current constraints as already mentioned in previous papers [3], [4], rather than on thermal constraints. In addition, they are generally based on (near-)worst case, steady-state conditions, which is quite This work was conducted in the frame of the BlueGrid project, funded by the Brittany Regional Council and the ENS-Rennes, and in the frame of the ORIGAMI project, funded by WEAMEC.…”

Strategically estimated CapEx: wave energy converter costs breakdown and parameterisation

“…These three aspects will then help in selecting the most appropriate WEF design for the location of interest, which includes decision on the number of WECs and the WEC configuration [20,33,36,38,39,54], the location of installation [46,[55][56][57], the WEF arrangement, particularly regarding park effects and wave direction impact [56], and the selection of cables, moorings, and anchors [9,42,45]. of 2.…”

“…d. Since the number of governing parameters affecting the costs is large [8,28], studies often focus on a particular aspect of CapEx such as the mooring costs [42], or cable expenses to link the WEF to the grid [9,28,[43][44][45]. These studies sometimes highlights the impact of parameters such as site characteristics, or wave and weather conditions on the diverse component and their costs.…”