Assessment of Available Ocean Energy Resources and the Selection of the Conversion Technology for a Hybrid Wind-Wave Farm in a Coastal Site of Australia

Hybrid wind-wave farms are emerging as a solution to make the wave energy cost competitive and the wind energy more dispatchable. Harnessing the combined wind-wave energy resources involves an appropriate understanding of the site and the conversion technology. In this paper, a case study is used to demonstrate an integrated approach for the resource estimation in the ocean and the selection of energy conversion technology at the intended site for a hybrid wind-wave farm. The assessment and characterization of the wind and the wave resources are carried out in terms of the wave power flux, the wind power density, the wave mean directionality and the other related parameters. The wave energy conversion technology requires a more detailed investigation as compared with that of the wind technology because of its variability in terms of the size and the operating principle for each technology. The power performance comparison is made for six commercial wind turbines with different rated power. Six pre-commercial wave energy conversion technologies are evaluated for their power performance and the hydrodynamic performance in terms of capture width ratio. An 80 MW hybrid wind-wave farm with 50% mix of each resource is proposed to better demonstrate the integrated approach for the intended coastal site in the Illawarra region of Australia.