A systematic methodology for PTO sizing and hydrodynamic optimization of OWC systems in high-energy Atlantic environments

This study presents a systematic methodology for the hydrodynamic optimization and power take-off sizing of an L-shaped oscillating water column wave energy converter for high-energy Atlantic environments. While standard oscillating water column designs, such as the Mutriku wave power plant (18.5 kW per unit), serve as a global benchmark, this research demonstrates that such configurations lead to significant energy underutilization in more energetic sea states. The proposed methodology combines multi-criteria site assessment, hydrodynamic resonance tuning, and time-domain numerical simulations. It is validated through a case study on Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), where an optimal chamber geometry was identified, matching the dominant wave period (T p = 12.5 s). A key contribution of this work is the optimization of the power take-off capacity. Sensitivity analysis revealed that increasing the rated power to 60 kW effectively mitigates clipping losses, increasing the annual energy production by 105.66% to 138.48 MWh/year compared with the 18.5 kW reference. Furthermore, the capture width ratio improved from 12.16% to 22.51%, highlighting the importance of hydrodynamic–pneumatic impedance matching. Comparative results show that the Tenerife site is 60.61% more energetic than the Mutriku wave power plant, achieving 2308 full-load hours and a capacity factor of 26.45%. These findings provide a transferable engineering methodology for designing resource-optimized oscillating water column systems in high-energy coastal environments. • Systematic four-stage framework for OWC design and PTO optimization. • Hydrodynamic resonance maximized through chamber geometry tuning. • PTO sizing mitigates clipping losses in energetic wave environments. • Optimized PTO increases annual energy production. • Framework transferable to high-energy breakwater-integrated OWC systems.