SAM's wave energy converter (WEC) model uses an electrical power capture matrix to characterize the performance of the converter. This matrix can be generated by a time-domain numerical simulation model such as the open source WEC-Sim (Wave Energy Converter Simulation) MATLAB/SIMULINK model. The matrix maps electrical power capture to the significant wave height and peak period in the wave resource scatter diagram on the Wave Resource page and should use the same bin size. The WEC modeling approach is consistent with the method described in LaBonte, A. et al. (2013). Standardized cost and performance reporting for marine and hydrokinetic technologies. 11 pp. Proceedings of 1st Marine Energy Technology Symposium, Washington DC.
Unlike SAM's other performance models, the wave energy converter model does not perform a time series simulation of the system's performance so it does not generate hourly or subhourly time series results over the year like the other models.
You can either choose a wave power matrix from the wave energy converter library, or you can import the data from a text file or other program.
WEC Library
SAM's wave energy converter library stores power matrix data and some descriptive information for different types of WECs.
WECS included in the library are based on open-source marine energy point designs as part of the Reference Model Project (RMP), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The included reference models are:
•Reference Model 3: Wave Point Absorber
•Reference Model 5: Oscillating Flap
•Reference Model 6: Oscillating Water Column
Related studies and supporting documentation for each reference model is located on the DOE Reference Model Project website.
To choose an WEC from the library:
1.Click Choose WEC from library.
2.Click the item in the library.
SAM populates the power matrix table with data from the library and shows converter attributes in the table.
Tip. You can select the data in the table by holding down the Shift key and using the up and down arrows to select the entire table. Then press Control-C (or Commad-C on a Mac) to copy the data to your clipboard.
Import WEC Power Matrix Data
To model a WEC not found in the library, you can import its power matrix data from a file.
See the SAM website for a sample WEC data file.
The WEC power matrix is a table of electrical power in kW for a range of significant wave heights in meters and wave energy periods in seconds with bins that match the wave energy resource scatter diagram on the Wave Resource page. You can either type values into the table by hand, import data from a comma-separated (CSV) text file, or paste data from your computer's clipboard.
To import WEC power matrix data:
1.Click Import WEC parameters.
2.To import the data from a file, click Import.
3.To paste the data from the clipboard, click Paste. Paste works with tab-delimited data so you can paste from a spreadsheet program.
The file format for the WEC power matrix is as follows:
•Columns are separated by commas.
•Row 1 contains the peak wave energy period (Te) value in seconds for each bin. The first column of Row 1 is ignored.
•Column 1 contains the significant wave height (Hs) value in meters for each bin. The first row of Column 1 is ignored.
•The remaining data is the WEC electrical power output in kW for each Te, Hs pair.
