The Effect of a Wave Energy Farm Protecting an Aquaculture Installation

Dina Silva, Eugen Rusu and C. Guedes Soares
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Dina Silva: Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal
Eugen Rusu: Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal
C. Guedes Soares: Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of a farm of wave energy converters on a nearby offshore aquaculture installation and on the nearshore dynamics. The coastal area targeted is Aguçadoura, located in the north of Portugal, where the world’s first wave farm operated in 2008. The study is focused mainly on the evaluation of the sheltering effect provided by the wave farm to the aquaculture cages. Furthermore, the possible impact on the coastal wave climate of such an energy park is also evaluated. These objectives are accomplished by performing simulations, corresponding to the wave conditions, which are more often encountered in that coastal environment. The SWAN model (Simulating WAves Nearshore) was adopted for this. Various transmission scenarios are considered to account for the impact of different types of wave converter farms on the downwave conditions. The results show that such a wave energy park might have a clear positive impact on the wave conditions fish farm installed downwave and it might also have a beneficial influence on shoreline dynamics from the perspective of coastal protection.

Keywords: wave energy farm; aquaculture; SWAN; sheltering effect; nearshore protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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