Ocean Wave Resource Potential

The project estimated the naturally available and technically recoverable U.S. wave energy resources, using a 51-month Wavewatch III hindcast database developed especially for this study by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centers for Environmental Prediction. For total resource estimation, wave power density in terms of kilowatts per meter is aggregated across a unit diameter circle. This approach is fully consistent with accepted global practice and includes the resource made available by the lateral transfer of wave energy along wave crests, which enables densities within a few kilometers of a linear array, even for fixed terminator devices. Please note that this data was selected from a larger dataset for use in the San Diego Ocean Planning Partnership, a collaborative pilot project between the California State Lands Commission and the Port of San Diego. For more information about the Partnership, please visit: https://www.sdoceanplanning.org/