Preliminary design and energy assessment of an overtopping breakwater for supporting port electrification

Abstract

The decarbonisation of ports requires the deployment of renewable energy technologies that can be integrated within existing maritime infrastructure while operating reliably under highly variable environmental conditions. In this study, a preliminary model-based energy assessment and design analysis of a site-specific overtopping breakwater wave energy converter (OBREC) system integrated into the existing Newhaven Port breakwater, United Kingdom, is presented. A stochastic wave-to-power framework is implemented using long-term buoy measurements as representative wave inputs, empirical overtopping relationships to estimate the mean discharge, Weibull-based random sampling to generate individual overtopping volumes, a mass balance model to update the reservoir storage, and turbine-generator equations to calculate electrical power under the stated modelling assumptions. The influence of key design variables, including ramp elevation, reservoir geometry, module width, and turbine configuration, is systematically investigated under local wave climate constraints. In addition, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses are conducted to assess the influence of variations in wave conditions, discretisation strategy, and turbine parameters on the predicted power generation. The model-based results indicate that the selected configuration gives a mean annual power output of 83.44 kW and an annual energy production of 731.56 MWh under the 2014–2024 wave climate. Seasonal variability is observed to play a significant role in energy generation, with substantially higher production during winter periods. The sensitivity analysis further demonstrates that turbine and generator efficiencies dominate the uncertainty in long-term power prediction, whereas the predicted power output shows limited sensitivity to the selected wave input perturbations. The results suggest the energy generation potential of integrating overtopping breakwater systems into existing port infrastructure under the stated modelling assumptions, while further structural, turbine-control, economic, environmental, grid-integration, and operation-and-maintenance assessments are required before technical feasibility can be confirmed.