The multidisciplinary conversion of ocean wave power for a site off the Australian East Coast is considered. An Oscillating Water Column (OWC) capture device with a parabolic collector wall converts incident wave power to pneumatic power while subsequent conversion to electricity is facilitated by a new air turbine-generator unit. A simple methodology is presented for estimating the air turbine's output and longer-term productivity, according to its sizing. Consequently, a methodology is defined which can be used in determining the optimal turbine diameter for a given wave climate and capture device performance. It is predicted that a 0.73m turbine on the 10m wide Australian plant will have a rated capacity of 300kW and will export 770MWh annually at an average rate of 86kW.
The beginning to the new millennium has seen a sharp increase in oil prices due to renewed OPEC activity; nuclear power fall from favor due to cost and safety issues; and coal decline further through international commitment to tightening global climate policies. Consequently, the cultural and economic shift towards renewable power continues unabated. The world's ocean waves contain enormous amounts of renewable energy that is dissipated along certain lengths of coastline, although capture devices can now be used to harness this for electricity generation. The Australian wave energy conversion plant presented herein uses a collector wall to concentrate the energy into a semi-submerged air chamber that vents to atmosphere via an air turbine-generator unit (Count, 1980; Ambli et al, 1982; Salter, 1988; French, 1994, Falcao et al, 1994; Whittaker et al, 1997). Initially, the chamber produces an oscillating column of water (OWC) that forces a reciprocating air flow through the turbine-generator unit. The axialflow air turbine is used to create a driving torque from the aerodynamic lift force generated on the blades, pitching and working efficiently in either flow regime.
