An Assessment of the Potential for Co-located Offshore Wind and Wave Farms in Ireland

Abstract

Ireland’s geographic location along the Atlantic Ocean means that it has one of the highest resources of wind and wave energy on the planet. Despite this, successful integration of wave energy into the Irish energy system has not been achieved. Ireland has a unique opportunity to not only develop wave energy but to also consider the benefits associated with co-located wind-wave farms. Co-located energy farms can offer a more predictable, less variable renewable energy source. This study investigates the synergies between offshore wind and wave resources at four locations off the Irish coast. Raw wind and wave data consisting of hourly observations from the Irish Marine Institute are used to characterise the available wind and wave resources over a ten-year period (2009-2019). The data is analysed in terms of power potential, temporal and spatial variability and correlation. An inter-annual and seasonal analysis of the cross-correlation between wind and wave resources is carried out. The results demonstrate that while favourable low correlation values and long-time lags exist off the Northwest coast, there is high inter-annual variability. The East coast display slow variability of correlations and lags inter-annually with little complementary behaviour between the two resources or scope for co-location.