Enabling Intelligent Multi-Modular Structures for Ocean Energy Harvesting

Offshore solar platforms offer a promising solution by utilizing abundant areas available at sea, but their high cost and harsh conditions can be a challenge. This lecture presents a novel idea of creating intelligent multi-modular offshore platforms designed to harvest solar energy. While the multi-modular design allows for covering vast ocean areas, it also introduces complexities related to potential high load at the connectors and wake effects. The key innovation lies in investigating active control of structural dynamics by using the connection points as actuators, allowing the platform dynamic to adapt to changing sea states, mitigating the risk of resonances. By adjusting the stiffness of the connectors, the platform’s natural frequencies can be shifted away from dominant excitation frequencies. This lecture covers four main areas, under development at the department of Marine Technology, NTNU: (1) the conceptual modelling of intelligent multi-modular structures, (2) preliminary simulation and experimental results validating the feasibility of adaptive connectors, (3) the smart material potential for controllable stiffness at connectors, and (4) the exploration of control algorithms for optimal performance. The research aims to support next-generation and cost-efficient offshore solar energy platforms, contributing to the transition to renewable energy on a global scale.