Medium-voltage power converter interface for Wave Dragon wave energy conversion system

This paper presents a medium-voltage power converter system for the Wave Dragon ocean energy conversion platform. The proposed converter configuration is an alternative to the classic back-to-back low voltage converter implemented in the original prototype. The converter configuration merges several diode rectifiers with boost converters operating with low voltage at the generators side, with a single neutral point clamped converter (NPC) operating at medium-voltage at grid side. The control schemes for generator and grid side converters are analyzed, and simulation results are presented as preliminary validation. The proposed configuration provides a simple and cost-effective interface for wave energy conversion systems with several generators, such as Wave Dragon.