Stretching from Perth to Tasmania is the best place to use wave energy resources.
Credit: Wikipedia
SYDNEY: If just 10% of the near-shore wave energy available along Australia's Southern coastline could be converted into electricity, half of the country's current electricity consumption would be met, say CSIRO scientists.
Committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% of year 2000 levels by 2050, the Australian Government aims to produce 45,000 gigawatt-hours/year of additional renewable energy before 2020.
"This total energy quota could be achieved using wave energy alone," said lead author Mark Hemer of the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Melbourne, "if 10% of the available wave energy resource over a 1,000km section of the Southern Australian margin were converted to electricity."
Australia lags behind in encouraging wave energy
The World Energy Council identified Australia's southern margin as one of the world's most promising sites for wave-energy generation, but governmental policies are still relatively underdeveloped.
"Several countries, particularly in Europe, have much more advanced policies to support uptake of the wave energy industry. This research shows that Australia's wave energy resource is considerably larger than these other countries which are actively encouraging the industry," said Hemer.
"As an example, the UK's wave energy resource has been estimated to be about 50 TWh/yr. This study has shown that Australia's southern has a sustained wave energy resource of 1329 TWh/yr."
Finding Australia's best wave energy locations
The study used long-term archives from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an operational wave model called WaveWatch III to measure significant wave height, peak wave period and peak wave direction, and The Simulating Waves Near-shore (SWAN) wave model to measure the spatial distribution of wave energy.
Using the 10-year, six-hourly archives collected by WaveWatch III from 1997 to 2006, the researchers calculated spectral wave measurements along the South-Western Australian margin, which extends from Perth to Hobart to determine deep-water wave energy potential, publishing their findings in the Journal of Renewable Sustainable Energy.
Using the SWAN wave model to assess how shallow water processes such as refraction, shoaling and bottom friction can affect the spatial distribution of wave energy, they were able to quantify the near-shore wave energy potential of certain locations, identifying the optimal places for energy extraction.
