Design and Control of a Modular Power Electronic Back-to-Back Converter for Wave Energy Harvesting Applications

Waves are one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Several concepts of wave energy converters (WECs) have been studied, but only few of them have progressed to sea testing. The EU, under the Horizon 2020 framework, is financing the development of an innovative WEC based on a direct-drive power take-off, with a modular back-to-back power electronic converter and an azimuthal multi-translator switched reluctance machine. The paper aims to illustrate its structure and control.