A New High Resolution Wave Modeling System for Renewable Energy Applications in California and the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract:

The use of integrated high accuracy wave systems is of critical importance today for applications on renewable energy assessment and monitoring, especially over offshore areas where the availability of credible, quality controlled corresponding observations is limited.

In this work a new wave modeling system developed by the Hellenic Naval Academy and the University of Athens, Greece, the Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling & Observations of Schmid College of Science in Chapman University, USA and the Naval Ocean and Analysis Laboratory of the US-Naval Postgraduate School, is presented. The new wave system has been based on WAM (ECMWF parallel version) model and focuses on parameters that directly or not affect the estimation of wave power potential in offshore and near shore areas.

The results obtained are utilized for monitoring the wave energy potential over the California and Eastern Mediterranean coastline. A detailed statistical analysis based on classical and non-conventional measures provides a solid framework for the quantification of the results. Extreme values-cases posing potential threats for renewable energy parks and platforms are particularly analyzed.