Most of the wave energy devices currently being developed are floating structures that require station-keeping systems to operate. Moorings are an expensive component and it is likely that future large-scale arrays will require purposely developedsolutions.
This paper presents the design and the analysis of a mooring configuration that is particularly suited to arrays of point-absorbers.
A heaving two-body point-absorber was chosen as testing device and the main requirements for the mooring design arising from the installation of a 8- body array were reviewed and analysed in order to provide basic evaluation criteria.
The main characteristics of the mooring system were defined partly based on existing normatives and previous experience from aquaculture farms and assessed by applying simplified preliminary models to specify lines length and relative components.
The final configuration was validated through the simulation of the most relevant extreme sea states occurring off the Basque coast, namely bimep (BIscay Marine Energy Platform), by use of advanced time-domain packages.
The results show the feasibility of this concept for arrays of point-absorbers and give further indication to its possible extension to other types of devices.
