Model predictive control for wave energy converters: A moving window blocking approach

Ocean wave energy is one of the most concentrated sources of renewable energy. However, until now it has not reached the economic feasibility required to be commercialised. To improve the efficiency of wave energy converters, several advanced control strategies have been proposed, including Model Predictive Control (MPC). Nevertheless, the computational burden of the underlying optimisation problem is a drawback of conventional (Full-Degree of Freedom, F-DoF) MPC, which typically limits its application for real-time control of systems. In this paper, a Moving Window Blocking (MWB) approach is proposed to speed-up the time required for each optimisation problem by reducing the number of decision variables using input parameterised solutions. Numerical simulation of a generic single device point absorber wave energy converter controlled by this scheme confirms the potential of this approach.