The Potential for harvesting wave energy offshore NEOM region, Northern Red Sea

Abstract

The Red Sea region represents a challenge for wave modeling and analysis due to its distinct wave structures induced by the spatially and temporally varying forcing wind fields. By incorporating wind and wave data series from 1985 to 2015 in the Advanced Research Weather and Forecasting model and WAVEWATCH III, the present study attempts to find the best site for installing wave energy converters (WEC) in the North Red Sea along the eastern Gulf of Aqaba and the NEOM bay in the northern Red Sea. Besides, the analysis determines the most suitable wave energy converter system using available wind and wave model data provided by KAUST. A total of 8 points were selected and analyzed to test the potential of wave energy at NEOM coastlines along the Gulf of Aqaba and NEOM Bay. The highest peak period found in the selected area was 4 seconds based on the wave hindcast generated on a 1-km resolution grid, and the highest wave found was 0.79 m. Based on the present results, the Gulf of Aqaba, with a mean wave power of 1.98 kW/m at P2 is a good candidate for a WEC system. Possible installation of wave energy converters in the selected areas is discussed in this thesis, including farms of point absorbers with the integration of wave and solar sources (DEIM). Based on preliminary information regarding the NEOM region, potential environmental and social challenges were also identified in this study for the viability of wave energy exploitation.