Review on layout optimization strategies of offshore parks for wave energy converters

Abstract

Layout optimization of wave energy offshore parks is a challenging task, as it encompasses various design objectives and constraints attributed to the complex hydrodynamic interactions. The wave energy converter (WEC) park performance is affected by local environment and device characteristics. To solve this challenge, advanced numerical algorithms, including artificial intelligence, have been applied to a wide range of case studies. Nevertheless, this process remains incomplete, which keeps it as a pertinent research topic in the field of WEC development. The present paper provides an overview of the current state and research trends of offshore WEC park layout optimization. To analyze the state-of-the-art, the paper targets the last decades' research on this topic, summarizing the studies, addressing the optimization objective and the employed methods and separating them according to the corresponding technique. The review showed that the results strongly depend on the methodologies applied. Furthermore, a preferential use of computational intelligence techniques has been observed in recent years.