On the correlation and complementarity assessment of ocean wind, solar and wave energy resources

Due to climate issues and energy crisis, the development and usage of marine renewable energies are on the rise. However, ocean wind, solar and wave energies are intermittent, and there are few studies investigated the correlation and complementarity of these ocean renewable energy resources. This study investigates the energy density, variability, correlation, and complementarity of these three marine renewable energy sources in the South China Sea and its surrounding areas, based on the ERA5 database in 2022. The study points out that wind and wave energies are enriched in the northern and central South China Sea, and solar energy is evenly distributed. Numerical results also reveal that the temporal distribution of solar energy in the South China Sea is most stable, followed by wind energy and wave energy. In this study, solar energy shows complementary feature with wind and wave energies, while wind and wave energies are correlated. The results are expected to provide a basic guideline for the design of hybrid ocean renewable energy platforms.