Holistic Resource Assessment of Offshore Wind, Wave, Tidal Current, and Solar Energy A Case Study in Washington and Alaska, USA
Abstract
As a widely available and essentially limitless source of power, marine renewable energy (MRE) has great potential for countries looking to decrease reliance on fossil fuels. However, some factors that limit MRE from being implemented on a commercial scale include the resource potential required at any site for current technologies to be economically realistic, as well as the variability of resources across seasons. Though tidal energy is more predictable and constant, offshore wind and wave resources may have strong seasonal variability. Then, by co-locating offshore wind, wave, tidal, and solar technologies, a renewable energy farm could potentially both output power more reliably and maximize the power generated in a limited area. We performed a holistic assessment of wind, wave, tidal, and solar resource availability at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington and in Cook Inlet in Alaska, both known for its high tidal and wave energy. We found that though wind resources in Cook Inlet and wind and wave resources in the Strait of Juan de Fuca are abundant in winter, the comparatively low solar irradiation in both locations means that a large area of solar panels would be required to account for the decline in wind and wave energy during the summer. Due to Cook Inlets high tidal resource, co-locating tidal and offshore wind power in Cook Inlet would allow for continued energy output even when wave and wind are small, though the tidal resource in the Strait of Juan de Fuca may not be sufficient to obtain the same benefits. Future work could involve performing a cost analysis of a co-located wind, wave, tidal, and solar farm at these two locations in order to further assess its feasibility.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMGC15H..01M