Evaluation of the wind and wave energy along the Caspian Sea

The objective of the present work is to evaluate the wind and wave energy resources along the Caspian Sea. Both remotely sensed data and results provided by numerical models were considered for this purpose. As regards the wind fields, the model data analysed are from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. For the waves, the SWAN spectral model was implemented and validated against satellite data along the entire basin of the sea. The results of the analyses show that while the wave energy appears to be irrelevant, considerable wind energy resources are available in the coastal environment of the Caspian Sea. Furthermore, the seasonal and spatial distributions of the wind energy were evaluated in terms of the power estimated to be delivered by the Siemens 2.3 wind turbines. Finally, using the same dataset, the wind conditions from the Caspian region were compared with those from some other locations in which offshore wind farms already operate. The main conclusion coming from the present work would be that the Caspian Sea, and especially its northern part which is characterized by very shallow water, represents an adequate environment for an effective extraction of the wind energy. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.