Wave resource assessment and climate change impacts in Reunion and Mauritius

This study assesses wave energy resources in two remote, yet populated islands in the Indian Ocean, i.e., Reunion and Mauritius. The suitable areas for future consideration for development were specified using the criteria defined for the sustainability of wave energy, including high energy potential and low intra-annual variation and long-term change in the future due to climate change. For climate projections, a super-high-resolution climate model was used to simulate the wave characteristics in both historical and future periods. The wave model has been downscaled on a local scale using the boundary condition generated by a parent model covering the whole Indian Ocean. The results show that in both islands, the wave power is the highest in the southeast and southern parts. There is higher stability for wave power in terms of monthly fluctuations in the southern parts of both islands. However, the north of Mauritius and south of Reunion show a lower future change in available mean wave power. In general, the southwest of Reunion and northwest of Mauritius are suggested to be more suitable locations for future development of wave energy farms considering their potential and sustainability.