Abstract
Ocean waves have been drawn to attention as new renewable energy sources. This study focuses on the wave energy around Hokkaido in winter. The authors performed resource modelling using a wave prediction model to investigate distribution and characteristics of wave energy around this area. The greatest wave energy was found around the Cape Erimo and Nemuto with a mean wave power of 10-15 kW/m. Spatial difference of the mean wave power varied with O(100 km) scale in the Pacific Ocean side. At the Japan Sea side, spatial fluctuation of the mean wave power occurred in O(1 km), which was more obvious than the Pacific side because of the geophysical conditions. Relatively large wave energy could also be found at the Japan Sea side depending on the location.
