Wave energy converter and large floating platform integration: A review

Extracting wave energy is a promising solution for renewable energy production because of the high energy intensity of ocean waves when compared to other renewable energy resources. On another front of ocean utilization, large floating platforms are an effective solution for creating artificial space on the sea for various purposes such as airports, seaports, aquaculture platforms, and recreation and residential areas. Integrating wave energy converters with large floating platforms brings many benefits owing to space-sharing, cost-sharing, and multiple functions of the integrated system. This paper presents a literature review of wave energy converter and large floating platform integration. Overviews of wave energy and large floating platform technologies are first presented. This is followed by a review of various integrated systems between wave energy converters and large floating platforms, a brief on hydrodynamic analysis of the integrated systems and some recommendations for future studies.