Dimensionless normalized wave power in the hot -spot areas of the Black Sea

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to identify and compare wave power sources in the high potential areas in nearshore and shallow water regions of the Black Sea. To achieve the goal, 23 locations were selected on two parallel lines around 5 m (10 sites) and around 25 m (13 sites) depth along the shoreline. The data needed to do the required analyzes at these locations were produced by using the calibrated nested layered 31-year wave hindcast SWAN model, which is operated between 1979-2009 with CFSR winds. The wave data were collected at a 2-hour time resolution for the sub-grid domains (SD3, SD2, and SD1) developed for the vicinity of Karaburun, Filyos, and Sinop coasts. HeaveBuoy, Oyster, Seabased AB, WaveDragon, WaveStar, Oyster2, and SSG, the most common known wave energy converters, were evaluated in the analysis. To ensure a more comprehensive analysis of the geographic variation of the predicted electrical power for each considered wave energy converter system, dimensionless normalized wave power and efficiency index were calculated separately for each wave energy converter devices at each location. From the results, it is recognized that generally, all the WEC systems performances are decreasing from Karaburun to Sinop while FB1 (13 m depth) the lowest, and KA2 (25 m depth) has the highest wave power capability. The most and the least energetic years were 1998 and 1989, repectively.