Revenue Optimization for the Ocean Grazer Wave Energy Converter through Storage Utilization

Increased penetration of renewable energy generation motivates a change of paradigm in the way power systems are structured and operated, as advocated by the smart grid concept. Accordingly, in this paper we investigate the lossless storage capabilities of the Ocean Grazer wave energy converter (WEC), which could facilitate the aforementioned paradigm shift. This specific WEC exhibits both adaptability with respect to the incoming waves and significant lossless storage capabilities. We propose a model predictive control (MPC) strategy based on a lumped dynamical model in order to mitigate power imbalances in the power grid and maximize the revenue of the WEC. Furthermore, we illustrate that the proposed strategy exploits the WEC energy storage capabilities and we show the economic benefits it brings. Lastly, the proposed strategy is compared with a heuristic approach and a setting without storage.