Projections of wind climate and wave energy resources in Lithuanian territorial waters of the Baltic Sea in the 21st century

Abstract

Wave energy is still insufficiently explored and exploited as a future energy source. Climate change is an additional force that affects energy potential changes. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the wave energy under climate change and to project it for the near (2025–2044) and far (2081–2100) future by applying the wave energy flux (WEF) approach and statistical relations between wind speeds and wave heights. The study was concentrated on the Baltic Sea nearshore at the Lithuanian territorial water. The analysis of existing relations between wind speeds and wave heights was found based on historical observations of the reference period (1995–2014), and the projections of WEF were created using the downscaled output of best-fit global climate models (GCMs) according to four scenarios of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP). The results indicated strong relations between wind speed and wave height, especially for the west-origin winds. Depending on the selected scenarios, the projected WEF may increase up to 10% (SSP5-8.5) and 11% (SSP1-2.6) in the near and far future respectively. The absence of large differences between the periods may be caused by the rough resolution of grid cells of GCMs. The comparison with the results based on regional climate models output could be a future perspective in order to reach a better representation of regional forces and to introduce more clarity to the obtained results. The results of this study may be advantageous for the primary planning of renewable energy sources (RES) development, especially in the face of climate change.