High-Resolution Wave Energy Assessment in Shallow Water Accounting for Tides

The wave energy in a shallow water location is evaluated considering the influence of the local tide and wind on the wave propagation. The target is the coastal area just north of the Portuguese city of Peniche, where a wave energy converter operates on the sea bottom. A wave modelling system based on SWAN has been implemented and focused on this coastal environment in a multilevel computational scheme. The first three SWAN computational belonging to this wave prediction system were defined using the spherical coordinates. In the highest resolution computational domain, Cartesian coordinates have been considered, with a resolution of 25 m in both directions. An in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of the environmental matrix has been performed. This is based on the results of eight-year model system simulations (2005–2012). New simulations have been carried out in the last two computational domains with the most relevant wave and wind patterns, considering also the tide effect. The results show that the tide level, together with the wind intensity and direction, may influence to a significant degree the wave characteristics. This especially concerns the wave power in the location where the wave converter operates.