Wave energy assessment of the Xisha Group Islands zone for the period 2010–2019

Abstract Distance from fuel supplies has sparked an interest in ocean wave energy as a potential resource to meet increasing energy demands in the remote Xisha Group islands in the South China Sea. This study pioneers an analysis of the distribution of harnessing potential wave energy in the Xisha Group Islands zone. Wave hindcast was implemented on an unstructured WAVEWATCH III model with refined spatial resolution in the Xisha Group Islands zone over the last ten years from 2010 to 2019. The spatial distribution of wave power resource was analyzed on annual and seasonal scales based on averaged values. To provide an insight into the exploitable wave energy, six sites near islands with high power demand were selected. At these sites, sophisticated research was carried out to investigate and compare the temporal stability of wave power, the exploitable wave power levels, and the directional distribution of wave power. The results show that the Xisha Group Islands zone has considerable wave power in annual mean power storage, with over 80% of sea areas generating wave energy density larger than 6 kW/m. The most suitable islands for deploying wave energy converters in the Xisha Group Islands zone were demonstrated.