The eastern part has very complex topography
and is isolated from the Atlantic influence by the Sierra Nevada and
Cazorla mountain ranges (Fig. 1). Atmospheric circulation across
the study region is dominated by a semi-permanent subtropical
high-pressure centre over the Azores islands. The position and intensity
of this centre changes through the year [22]. The study region
is bounded on the south by the Atlantic (western part) and
Mediterranean (eastern part), with about 900 km of coastline. One
of the most important features regarding wind energy is the existence
of strong, semi-permanent winds near the coast of the Strait
of Gibraltar. Low-speed winds are channeled and accelerated
through this 11 km-wide topographic feature. Despite the relatively
small size of the region, there is a remarkable surface wind speed
spatial variability across it, caused by interaction of mesoscale circulations
with the topographic features [23]. The geographic,
topographic and climatological characteristics of the study are fully
discussed in Refs. [24,25]. The study region has areas of great significance
for offshore wind energy, especially near the Strait of
Gibraltar [26,27]. Although development of offshore wind farms in
these areas is in its early stages, the offshore wind energy resource
is addressed herein.