Grid connection of wave power farm using an N-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter

Abstract

An N-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is proposed for grid connection of large wave power farms. The point-absorber wave energy converters are individually rectified and used as isolated DC-sources. The variable power characteristics of the wave energy converters are discussed, and a method of mitigating this issue is demonstrated. The complete power control system is given in detail and has been experimentally verified for a single-phase setup of the 9-level inverter. Theoretical expressions of the power sharing between multilevel cells are derived and show good correspondence with the experimental results. © 2013 Rickard Ekström and Mats Leijon.