Holistic marine energy resource assessments: A wave and offshore wind perspective of metocean conditions

Abstract

Offshore wind and wave energy resources are possibly the last significantly untapped renewable energy resource, and could play a significant role in mitigating the impacts of climate change via the generation of renewable electricity. While often considered independently, there are significant technical advantages to co-deployment of wave and offshore wind technologies, and will be future competition for limited marine real estate, so there is a distinct need to development holistic assessments of these offshore resources. Currently, offshore wind and wave energy resource assessments have been conducted as independent parallel processes, with little interaction with regard to best practices, lessons learnt, or opportunities to create compatible methodologies for future utilization by the broader marine energy sector. Based on the latest technical specifications from the International Electrotechnical Commission, and the highest fidelity publicly available datasets, the offshore wind and wave conditions at the PacWave site off Oregon, USA were quantified. At the 70m depth site, the results clearly show a significant untapped energy resource an annual average wave energy flux of ∼35 kW/m and a mean average wind speed of 7.8 m/s; suitable for significant offshore wind (fixed and floating) and wave energy technology deployment The offshore wind and wave energy resources both show significant seasonal variation, with offshore wind also featuring a consistent daily profile during summer. Finally, opportunities and challenges associated with developing a holistic assessment of offshore marine energy resources were discussed and recommendations provided.