Abstract
The present work describes a study related to the influence on the shoreline dynamics of a wave farm consisting of Wave Dragon devices operating in the western side of the Black Sea. Based on historical data analysis of the wave climate, the most relevant environmental conditions that could occur were defined, and for these cases, simulations with SWAN spectral phase averaged wave model were performed. Two situations were considered for the most representative patterns: model simulations without any wave energy converter and simulations considering a wave farm consisting of six Wave Dragon devices. Comparisons of the wave model outputs have been carried out in both geographical and spectral spaces. The results show that although a significant influence appears near the wave farm, this gradually decreases to the coast line level. In order to evaluate the influence of the wave farm on the longshore currents, a nearshore circulation modeling system was used. In relative terms, the longshore current velocities appear to be more sensitive to the presence of the wave farm than the significant wave height. Finally, the possible impact on the marine flora and fauna specific to the target area was also considered and discussed.
Highlights
The higher request concerning the implementation on large scale of the renewable energy imposed by the EU directives implies a substantial enhancement of the renewable energy extraction all over Europe.Wave energy is abundant and is more predictable than wind or solar energy
The objective of the present work is to evaluate the coastal impact of a wave energy convertors (WECs) array composed of six Wave Dragon devices disposed in one line that would operate on the west side of the Black Sea
According to the EU requirements, 20% of the electric energy produced in Europe should be provided until 2020 by renewable energy sources
Summary
This impact should not be expected as necessarily negative, since reducing the wave energy might produce benefits in several coastal areas, evaluating the sensitivity of the nearshore wave climate to the extraction of the renewable energy still represents a very important issue, and a lot of studies are required in this direction In this context, the objective of the present work is to evaluate the coastal impact of a WEC array composed of six Wave Dragon devices disposed in one line that would operate on the west side of the Black Sea. Nørgaard et al [9, 10] showed the importance of such devices, which can be used to reduce the wave height along the shorelines. The results of the present work can be extrapolated to many other coastal environments
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