IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v112y2019icp263-279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reducing variability in the cost of energy of ocean energy arrays

Author

Listed:
  • Topper, Mathew B.R.
  • Nava, Vincenzo
  • Collin, Adam J.
  • Bould, David
  • Ferri, Francesco
  • Olson, Sterling S.
  • Dallman, Ann R.
  • Roberts, Jesse D.
  • Ruiz-Minguela, Pablo
  • Jeffrey, Henry F.

Abstract

Variability in the predicted cost of energy of an ocean energy converter array is more substantial than for other forms of energy generation, due to the combined stochastic action of weather conditions and failures. If the variability is great enough, then this may influence future financial decisions. This paper provides the unique contribution of quantifying variability in the predicted cost of energy and introduces a framework for investigating reduction of variability through investment in components. Following review of existing methodologies for parametric analysis of ocean energy array design, the development of the DTOcean software tool is presented. DTOcean can quantify variability by simulating the design, deployment and operation of arrays with higher complexity than previous models, designing sub-systems at component level. A case study of a theoretical floating wave energy converter array is used to demonstrate that the variability in levelised cost of energy (LCOE) can be greatest for the smallest arrays and that investment in improved component reliability can reduce both the variability and most likely value of LCOE. A hypothetical study of improved electrical cables and connectors shows reductions in LCOE up to 2.51% and reductions in the variability of LCOE of over 50%; these minima occur for different combinations of components.

Suggested Citation

  • Topper, Mathew B.R. & Nava, Vincenzo & Collin, Adam J. & Bould, David & Ferri, Francesco & Olson, Sterling S. & Dallman, Ann R. & Roberts, Jesse D. & Ruiz-Minguela, Pablo & Jeffrey, Henry F., 2019. "Reducing variability in the cost of energy of ocean energy arrays," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 263-279.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:112:y:2019:i:c:p:263-279
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.05.032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119303454
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2019.05.032?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin, Rebecca & Lazakis, Iraklis & Barbouchi, Sami & Johanning, Lars, 2016. "Sensitivity analysis of offshore wind farm operation and maintenance cost and availability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1226-1236.
    2. Simon Ambühl & Laurent Marquis & Jens Peter Kofoed & John Dalsgaard Sørensen, 2015. "Operation and maintenance strategies for wave energy converters," Journal of Risk and Reliability, , vol. 229(5), pages 417-441, October.
    3. Pau Mercadé Ruiz & Vincenzo Nava & Mathew B. R. Topper & Pablo Ruiz Minguela & Francesco Ferri & Jens Peter Kofoed, 2017. "Layout Optimisation of Wave Energy Converter Arrays," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Joanna Bauer & Jens Lysgaard, 2015. "The offshore wind farm array cable layout problem: a planar open vehicle routing problem," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 66(3), pages 360-368, March.
    5. Allan, Grant & Gilmartin, Michelle & McGregor, Peter & Swales, Kim, 2011. "Levelised costs of Wave and Tidal energy in the UK: Cost competitiveness and the importance of "banded" Renewables Obligation Certificates," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 23-39, January.
    6. Clark, Caitlyn E. & Miller, Annalise & DuPont, Bryony, 2019. "An analytical cost model for co-located floating wind-wave energy arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 885-897.
    7. Segura, E. & Morales, R. & Somolinos, J.A. & López, A., 2017. "Techno-economic challenges of tidal energy conversion systems: Current status and trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 536-550.
    8. Yuce, M. Ishak & Muratoglu, Abdullah, 2015. "Hydrokinetic energy conversion systems: A technology status review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-82.
    9. López, Iraide & Andreu, Jon & Ceballos, Salvador & Martínez de Alegría, Iñigo & Kortabarria, Iñigo, 2013. "Review of wave energy technologies and the necessary power-equipment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 413-434.
    10. Lehmann, Marcus & Karimpour, Farid & Goudey, Clifford A. & Jacobson, Paul T. & Alam, Mohammad-Reza, 2017. "Ocean wave energy in the United States: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1300-1313.
    11. Adam J. Collin & Anup J. Nambiar & David Bould & Ben Whitby & M. A. Moonem & Benjamin Schenkman & Stanley Atcitty & Paulo Chainho & Aristides E. Kiprakis, 2017. "Electrical Components for Marine Renewable Energy Arrays: A Techno-Economic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-31, November.
    12. Myers, L.E. & Bahaj, A.S., 2012. "An experimental investigation simulating flow effects in first generation marine current energy converter arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 28-36.
    13. Hemer, Mark A. & Manasseh, Richard & McInnes, Kathleen L. & Penesis, Irene & Pitman, Tracey, 2018. "Perspectives on a way forward for ocean renewable energy in Australia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 733-745.
    14. Teillant, Boris & Costello, Ronan & Weber, Jochem & Ringwood, John, 2012. "Productivity and economic assessment of wave energy projects through operational simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 220-230.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shen, Wei & Chen, Xi & Qiu, Jing & Hayward, Jennifier A & Sayeef, Saad & Osman, Peter & Meng, Ke & Dong, Zhao Yang, 2020. "A comprehensive review of variable renewable energy levelized cost of electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Faedo, Nicolás & Peña-Sanchez, Yerai & Pasta, Edoardo & Papini, Guglielmo & Mosquera, Facundo D. & Ferri, Francesco, 2023. "SWELL: An open-access experimental dataset for arrays of wave energy conversion systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 699-716.
    3. Enrico Giglio & Ermando Petracca & Bruno Paduano & Claudio Moscoloni & Giuseppe Giorgi & Sergej Antonello Sirigu, 2023. "Estimating the Cost of Wave Energy Converters at an Early Design Stage: A Bottom-Up Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-39, April.
    4. Penalba, Markel & Ulazia, Alain & Saénz, Jon & Ringwood, John V., 2020. "Impact of long-term resource variations on wave energy Farms: The Icelandic case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    5. Topper, Mathew B.R. & Olson, Sterling S. & Roberts, Jesse D., 2021. "On the benefits of negative hydrodynamic interactions in small tidal energy arrays," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    6. Clemente, D. & Rosa-Santos, P. & Taveira-Pinto, F., 2021. "On the potential synergies and applications of wave energy converters: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Owain Roberts & Jillian Catherine Henderson & Anna Garcia-Teruel & Donald R. Noble & Inès Tunga & Jonathan Hodges & Henry Jeffrey & Tim Hurst, 2021. "Bringing Structure to the Wave Energy Innovation Process with the Development of a Techno-Economic Tool," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    8. Bianchi, Marco & Fernandez, Iratxe Fernandez, 2024. "A systematic methodology to assess local economic impacts of ocean renewable energy projects: Application to a tidal energy farm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ophelie Choupin & Michael Henriksen & Amir Etemad-Shahidi & Rodger Tomlinson, 2021. "Breaking-Down and Parameterising Wave Energy Converter Costs Using the CapEx and Similitude Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-27, February.
    2. Choupin, Ophelie & Henriksen, Michael & Tomlinson, Rodger, 2022. "Interrelationship between variables for wave direction-dependent WEC/site-configuration pairs using the CapEx method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    3. Chenglong Guo & Wanan Sheng & Dakshina G. De Silva & George Aggidis, 2023. "A Review of the Levelized Cost of Wave Energy Based on a Techno-Economic Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-30, February.
    4. Garcia-Teruel, A. & Forehand, D.I.M., 2021. "A review of geometry optimisation of wave energy converters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Jahanshahi, Akram & Kamali, Mohammadreza & Khalaj, Mohammadreza & Khodaparast, Zahra, 2019. "Delphi-based prioritization of economic criteria for development of wave and tidal energy technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 819-827.
    6. Topper, Mathew B.R. & Olson, Sterling S. & Roberts, Jesse D., 2021. "On the benefits of negative hydrodynamic interactions in small tidal energy arrays," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    7. Anthony Roy & François Auger & Florian Dupriez-Robin & Salvy Bourguet & Quoc Tuan Tran, 2018. "Electrical Power Supply of Remote Maritime Areas: A Review of Hybrid Systems Based on Marine Renewable Energies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Guo, Bingyong & Ringwood, John V., 2021. "Geometric optimisation of wave energy conversion devices: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    9. Zhang, Yongxing & Zhao, Yongjie & Sun, Wei & Li, Jiaxuan, 2021. "Ocean wave energy converters: Technical principle, device realization, and performance evaluation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Takvor H. Soukissian & Dimitra Denaxa & Flora Karathanasi & Aristides Prospathopoulos & Konstantinos Sarantakos & Athanasia Iona & Konstantinos Georgantas & Spyridon Mavrakos, 2017. "Marine Renewable Energy in the Mediterranean Sea: Status and Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-56, September.
    11. Zeyringer, Marianne & Fais, Birgit & Keppo, Ilkka & Price, James, 2018. "The potential of marine energy technologies in the UK – Evaluation from a systems perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1281-1293.
    12. Francesco Ferri & Simon Ambühl & Boris Fischer & Jens Peter Kofoed, 2014. "Balancing Power Output and Structural Fatigue of Wave Energy Converters by Means of Control Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-28, April.
    13. Astariz, S. & Iglesias, G., 2015. "The economics of wave energy: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 397-408.
    14. Fouz, D.M. & Carballo, R. & López, I. & Iglesias, G., 2022. "A holistic methodology for hydrokinetic energy site selection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    15. Morim, Joao & Cartwright, Nick & Etemad-Shahidi, Amir & Strauss, Darrell & Hemer, Mark, 2016. "Wave energy resource assessment along the Southeast coast of Australia on the basis of a 31-year hindcast," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 276-297.
    16. Cruz, M. & Henriques, R. & Pinho, J.L. & Avilez-Valente, P. & Bio, A. & Iglesias, I., 2023. "Assessment of the potential for hydrokinetic energy production in the Douro river estuary under sea level rise scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    17. Chutipat Foyhirun & Duangrudee Kositgittiwong & Chaiwat Ekkawatpanit, 2020. "Wave Energy Potential and Simulation on the Andaman Sea Coast of Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Tunde Aderinto & Hua Li, 2019. "Review on Power Performance and Efficiency of Wave Energy Converters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-24, November.
    19. Zheng, Siming & Zhang, Yongliang, 2018. "Theoretical modelling of a new hybrid wave energy converter in regular waves," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PA), pages 125-141.
    20. Dillon, Trent & Maurer, Benjamin & Lawson, Michael & Jenne, Dale Scott & Manalang, Dana & Baca, Elena & Polagye, Brian, 2022. "Cost-optimal wave-powered persistent oceanographic observation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 504-521.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:112:y:2019:i:c:p:263-279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.