Modeling and Implementation of a Wave Energy Converter Emulator for Testing Multi-port Power Converters in a Marine DC Microgrid
Amiya Haque, Zeljko Pantic, Iqbal Husain · 2024
A DC Microgrid system has tremendous potential for extracting ocean energy and providing power to coastal communities in remote locations. However, experimentation with Wave Energy Converters (WEC), power electronic converters, storage, and load during the microgrid development stages poses challenges due to the limited accessibility to physical WECs. This paper presents the modeling, design and hardware implementation of a WEC emulator with real WEC characteristics and a physical testbed using a power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) set-up that can provide a reliable testbed to facilitate the design, optimization, and development of a DC microgrid system built around marine renewable energy resources. The WEC emulator is modeled to replicate the WEC dynamics, gearbox, and generator, to accurately reflect the system found in a real WEC when driven by ocean waves with real ocean wave data. A Multiport Power Converter (MPC) is used in the testbed to integrate generation, storage, and load in the DC microgrid.