Waves for design of wind-power plants in shallow seas

Paper in proceeding, 2009

Usually there is little knowledge of long-term wave conditions at prospective sites for wind-power plants, while the deep-water or open sea conditions may be more known and geographically less varying. However, most wind-energy plants are intended for water depths less than 20 m. A concept for assessing design waves at a near-shore site is to transform the off-shore wave spectra to the target site by a model for spectral wave-energy transfer over the actual bottom topography. The inshore spectra can be used for linear statistics of extreme waves and design wave loads can be produced. In this context it is important to know the realism of used spectral forms. Based on 58 measured wave spectra at 6 m water depth at the near-shore wind farm Bockstigen in the Baltic the most realistic spectrum was found to be the TMA spectrum, which is a JONSWAP spectrum modified for shallow water. Some few examples are given.