Abstract
The objective of the present work is to assess the coastal impact induced by a generic wave farm operating in the central part of the Portuguese continental coastal environment, south of Lisbon. In order to identify better the most relevant wave patterns in the target area, two data sets were processed and analyzed. The first is represented by the ‘in situ’ measurements provided by the Sines buoy, which operates in the immediate vicinity south of the target area, and the second consists in the wave data coming from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, in a point located offshore close to the target area. Three scenarios were considered for the numerical simulations that were carried out with a computational framework combining a wave and a circulation model. A generic wave farm was defined in the computational domain considering various distances from the shore: 1 km, 4 km and 7 km, respectively. In the first part of the work, the down-wave effect of the farm was evaluated taking into account the local wave characteristics in the target area and analyzing various wave parameters, as for example the wave power, wave height and mean wave direction. In the second part of the work, the influence of the farm on the nearshore circulation was also assessed. Based on the results of the present work it can be concluded that the nearshore impact of such a marine energy farm can be considered significant. This suggests that a project as this herewith considered, besides providing renewable energy, could assure an effective coastal protection.