56. Turbine Development for the Wave Dragon Wave Energy Converter

The Wave Dragon is a wave energy converter of the overtopping type which has been developed by a European consortium during the last five years. It uses a set of low head water turbines as power takeoff system. In the course of a two year research programme the basic conception of the turbines has been established, the turbine geometry has been designed and a model turbine has been built and tested. Furthermore, a software simulation has been conceived that allows the operation of the Wave Dragon in different sea conditions to be simulated, thus permitting a tailoring of the turbines as well as a forecast of the annual energy production for installation in a proposed location. The paper at hand is giving an introduction into wave energy converters in general and is describing the methods applied in as well as the results obtained from the turbine development program.