Experimental Results From The Hybridisation of Wave and Solar Energy to Provide Consistent Power to Niche Demands

The power output of a wave energy converter could be smoothed by the addition of a solar panel array as wave and solar energies are complimentary. To explore this theory, an experiment was devised where six solar panels were mounted to the Mocean Energy BlueX wave energy converter deployed in the Orkney Islands. The aims of the experiment was to explore how much power could be expected, what type of panel is best suited, what lifetime is to be expected and what impacts are there on the operations of the WEC. Conclusions from the experiment are: the panels can produce 4kWh over a 16 day period, the flexible panels produced more energy than rigid panels, the rigid panels are susceptible to damage, the panels did not have an influence on the performance of the WEC but do introduce a new operation to the deployment to clean the panels from bird deposits. By using outputs from the experiment, a 5kWp array is suggested which could produce an average daily yield of 2.7kWh.