Wave resource characterization and co-location with offshore wind in the Irish Sea

• Published in: Renewable Energy
• Main Author: Neill, Simon
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutputs/wave-resource-characterization-and-colocation-with-offshore-wind-in-the-irish-sea(c7864898-e18a-4822-934e-f1e469a18a8f).html; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2023.119902; https://research.bangor.ac.uk/ws/files/68624105/renewable_energy_REVISED.pdf

One barrier affecting progress in the wave energy sector is detailed knowledge of the spatiotemporal distribution of waves in shelf sea regions, including their inter- and intra-annual variability. Here, a recent decade (2012-2021) of waves is simulated at high-resolution in the Irish Sea - a region with much offshore energy infrastructure. The spectral wave model SWAN is forced with ERA5 wind fields. There is a strong seasonal cycle in wave height and power. In all months except for July, large waves (significant wave height greater than 5 m) can penetrate into the northern part of the Irish Sea, but the most energetic region is the Celtic Sea, where monthly mean wave power exceeds 30 kW/m in December. In this region, wave power strongly correlates with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) from September to March. To investigate the potential for co-location, i.e. to reduce costs through shared infrastructure, wave and wind power were compared at a leased floating wind site in the Celtic Sea. Over the simulated decade, r^2 ~ 0.5, demonstrating modest potential for co-location of wind and wave energy technologies in this part of the Irish Sea - considerably less favourable than other sites in the North Atlantic that experience greater swell.