a b s t r a c tIn this work, we present a methodology for the assessment of the economic value of ocean wave energy schemes. Such an assessment is a necessary tool for supporting investment decisions in the development of wave farms and in the development of wave energy converter (WEC) technology. To overcome the lack of operational experience, the methodology presented includes detailed operational simulations which relate the operational costs and the availability of the plant for power production to the characteristics of the device, the location, and the maintenance strategy chosen. The methodology consists of firstly, a productivity and costs assessment which embodies the operational simulations and secondly, a financial calculator which employs discounted cash-flow techniques to produce selected economic indicators. A case study, consisting of one hundred WECs units deployed off the West Coast of Ireland, is presented to exemplify the use of the methodology. The paper also explores how the key inputs to the assessment affect the economic performance of the case study project via a sensitivity analysis.
The Blue Economy is an emerging paradigm with the potential to foster balanced socio-economic development of the world’s oceans and coastal areas, but it requires an understanding of the stakeholder landscape at a national and at an international sea basin scale, so that we can model potential equitable and collaborative economic development. Applying a novel, mixed-method approach we collected, collated and analysed spatial and non-spatial stakeholder information from five countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal), that border the North East Atlantic sea basin. Through the development of Blue Economy stakeholder directory for the North East Atlantic area more than 600 local, regional, national and international (EU wide and global) stakeholders were analysed in terms of their Blue Economy alignment and to determine their respective enabling role (financier, service providers, research/innovators and regulators/policy makers). Results show 72% of the North East Atlantic sea basin stakeholders fail to recognise the socio-economic potential of the Blue Economy, regardless of the new policy instruments and a strategic focus from the European Commission. We also identify that public and research/academic institutions currently dominate the landscape of Blue Economy stakeholders; but note this is inconsistent, when compared with other economic sectors in maritime territories. Based on the results, we discuss the key challenges facing equitable growth of the Blue Economy in the North East Atlantic area.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.