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UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics

Scoil na nEolaíochtaí Matamaitice UCD

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UCD and Met Éireann create a high-resolution wind and wave atlas for Ireland (posted 13/11/14)

Researchers in the UCD School of Mathematical Sciences, in collaboration with Met Éireann, have created a new wind and wave atlas for Ireland for the period 2000-2012. The study was supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) through the Renewable Energy Research Development & Demonstration Programme.

The research, authored by Prof. Frederich Dias (UCD), S. Gallagher (UCD), E. Gleeson (Met Éireann), R. McGrath( Met Éireann), R. Tiron (UCD), and E. Whelan (Met Éireann), covers both the Atlantic and the Irish Sea coasts with a focus on the nearshore areas.

Our study is motivated by a real need for wave energy resource assessment close to the shoreline since most wave climate studies for this region have focused on the offshore areas. Furthermore, a joint investigation of both wind and wave climates is particularly relevant to nearshore marine operations including off-shore wind and WEC farms. Indeed, a key factor for a viable technology is accessibility for deployment and maintenance. Performing maintenance at sea is notoriously expensive and risky as evidenced by both the off-shore oil industry and, more recently, the off-shore wind industry. Such activities require sufficiently long, contiguous time intervals where both the sea state and wind conditions are sufficiently calm. Thus, the renewable energy developers would need to strike a balance between two opposing criteria in selecting sites for deployment: availability of the resource on one hand and of weather-windows for maintenance on the other. Our study clearly addresses this need.

You can find more about this story at http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=284

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