Kalle Haikonen

Design proposal of electrical system for linear generator wave power plants

This paper describes an electrical system layout for a wave power plant connecting linear generators to the grid. The electrical power out from the wave energy converters must be converted before they can be connected to the grid. The conversion is carried out in marine substations that will be placed on the seabed. The paper presents experimental power data from a wave energy converter that has been in operation at the Lysekil research site since March 2006. Moreover, results and analyses from experiments and simulations from tests with the generator connected to a rectifier and filter are presented. A simulation is made to show the difference between having the generator connected to a linear load and a nonlinear load, which would be the case when the generator is connected to the grid.