RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
Taiwan is a small island which has very scarce energy and resources. Therefore, development of renewable energy is need. In this paper, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to obtain the importance sequence and finds out the key success factors of wave energy for the selection of appropriate sites in Taiwan. Based on numerical results, it is found that the wave energy flux, distance to shoreline, water depth and typhoon are the key success factors in the selection of appropriate sites of wave energy farms in Taiwan.
INTRODUCTION
Due to the world’s rising energy consumption, the limited existence of fossil energy sources and the global warming has affected the climate change all over the world, the extension of renewable energy have drawn great attentions from governments, industries and academics in the world. In addition, the expanding use of fossil fuels due to economic development has resulted in rapidly increasing CO2 emissions. In 2009, Copenhagen Accord to set the mitigation target to limit warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it has considerable potential and could theoretically provide a nearly unlimited supply of relatively clean and mostly local energy. Global energy consumption amounts to over 17,400 Terawatt hours per year. Recently, renewable energy supply has been growing strongly; the annual growth for wind energy, for example, has been around 30% recently, from a very low base. In relative terms, on the other hand, the share of modern renewable, including large hydro, in the total primary energy supply will remain around 10% by 2010 (WEC 2003). Wave energy is a renewable energy source with high power density, relatively high utilization factor, low visual impact and presumed low impact on environment compared to other renewable sources (Thorpe, 1999; Leijon et al., 2003).