Representing non-linear wave energy converters in coastal wave models

To meet the growing global demand for carbon neutral electricity, wave energy is increasingly being identified for its global prevalence and the emerging clean technologies that can harness it. To provide the scale of electricity needed, Wave Energy Converters (WECs) will need to be deployed in large arrays. However, the effects of a WEC array's layout on the surrounding wave conditions in both the near and far fields is poorly understood. The published literature describes numerous methods to model interactions of incident waves and WEC arrays. Yet, none of the published methods provide a methodology which spectrally resolves the individual WEC's energy conversion characteristics, and has the flexibility to be applied to any emerging WEC design.