Numerical evaluation of the wave energy resource along the Atlantic European coast

In the present paper a hindcast system is applied to the analysis of the Atlantic European coast as a whole with specific nestings for sites of interest in each country. The areas included in this study were: Ireland west coast, UK South Western coast, France west coast, northern Spain and Canary Islands and Portugal׳s continental coast. Two contemporary spectral models were used: WaveWatch III for wave generation, covering almost the entire North Atlantic basin, which outputs are then used as boundary conditions for SWAN which simulates wave transformation in coastal areas. Wind fields were taken from the ERA Interim data base. Results are validated against buoy data. These validations allowed a reformulation, when needed, of the model׳s configurations in order to better tune its outcomes to the real data. Using the energy transport vectors given by SWAN, the wave power is afterwards calculated and an energy resource assessment is done for a period of several years.