Prospects and applicability of wave energy for South Africa

Journal article (2018)

Authors

G. Lavidas The University of Edinburgh
Vengatesan Venugopal The University of Edinburgh
Affiliation
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

Renewable energy offers significant opportunities for electricity diversification. South Africa belongs to the group of developing nations and encompasses a lot of potential for renewable energy developments. Currently, the majority of its electricity production originates from fossil fuels; however, incorporation of clean coal technologies will aid in reaching the assigned targets. This study offers a long-term wave power quantification analysis with a numerical wave model. The investigation includes long-term resource assessment in the region, variability, seasonal and monthly wave energy content. Locations with high-energy content but low variability pose an opportunity that can contribute in the alleviation of energy poverty. Application of wave converters depends on the combination of complex terms. The study presents resource levels and the joint distributions, which indicate suitability for converter selection. Depending on the region of interest, these characteristics change. Thus, this resource assessment adds knowledge on wave power and optimal consideration for wave energy applicability.