Abstract
Wave energy is one of the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels due to the enormous available resource; however, its development may be slowed as it is often regarded as uneconomical. The largest cost reductions are expected to be obtained through economies of scale and technological progress. In this sense, the incorporation of wave energy systems into offshore wind energy farms is an opportunity to foster the development of wave energy. The synergies between both renewables can be realised through these co-located energy farms and, thus, some challenges of offshore wind energy can be met. Among them, this paper focuses on the longer non-operational periods of offshore wind turbines—relative to their onshore counterparts—typically caused by delays in maintenance due to the harsh marine conditions. Co-located wave energy converters would act as a barrier extracting energy from the waves and resulting in a shielding effect over the wind farm. On this basis, the aim of this paper is to analyse wave energy economics in a holistic way, as well as the synergies between wave and offshore wind energy, focusing on the shadow effect and the associated increase in the accessibility to the wind turbines.
Highlights
Ocean energy has emerged with force in the search for alternatives to conventional energy resources
The first aim of this paper was to present a general view of the economics of wave energy, a renewable which is still in its infancy but presents a large available resource
It was concluded that its offshore character—in most cases—along with the initial stage of development of the technology reduce the economic viability of wave energy, which may curb the development of this promising renewable technology
Summary
Ocean energy has emerged with force in the search for alternatives to conventional energy resources. Other synergies arise when this combination is considered, such as a better predictability of the energetic resource [49], smoothed power output [54] or enlarged weather windows for operation and maintenance tasks [55] The latter is of special interest for this paper: The energy extraction of an array of WECs creates a wake that modifies the local wave climate by reducing the mean wave height, which is known as the shadow effect [56]. The analysis of the so-called shadow effect is based on the results of previous studies, which allow the assessment of the influence of the wind farm characteristics and the co-located WECs layout on the benefit achieved—which are translated into monetary terms
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