## 3 Results and Discussion  
The assessment of the potential energy resource for a hybrid wind-wave farm was carried out along the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula for the near future (2026-2045). First, spatial maps of all the wind and wave indices that make up the categories of resource richness, variability, risk, and cost were calculated. The method used in this study is similar to the one developed by [62], where the authors proposed a multi-criteria approach for wave energy converters. They used similar coefficients (resource, variability, downtime, risk, and cost) although their study was more focused on particular devices for three specific locations. In the case of this research, which is based on previous studies carried out for wind energy converters [37; 49; 50; 61], the analysis is focused on a large area covering the Atlantic part of the Iberian Peninsula under near future conditions. Previous works also focused on particular locations [25; 65], although as far as we know, none on them considered future wind and wave conditions. The richness category accounts for the available resource in terms of W\({}_{\text{ann}}\), RLO, and DWNT for the wind resource (Figure 2), and WP and DWNT for the wave resource (Figure 3). W\({}_{\text{ann}}\) index (Figure 2a) shows the maximum value of 1 in the ocean, and decreases to less than half near land. This is consistent with the WPD values shown for this region in [67]. The RLO index pattern is similar to the one of W\({}_{\text{ann}}\), with the lowest values (around 0.1) being detected along the coast, and the maximum values, of around 0.7, in the northwest region. The DWNT index shows a smaller difference (0.2) between the ocean and the coastal regions. Wave richness resource shows some similarities to that of the wind, mostly due to the waves being generated as a result of the wind forcing on the water surface. WP index (Figure 3a) shows its maximum (0.7) on the northwest region, as the RLO index. The lowest WP values are found near  
Figure 3: Richness indices for wave energy resource. Wave power (**a**) and downtime (**b**) in the NW Iberian Peninsula for the near future (2026–2045). Figure 2: Richness indices for wind energy resource. Annual average wind speed (**a**), rich level occurrence (**b**), and downtime (**c**) in the NW Iberian Peninsula for the near future (2026–2045). the coast, in particular in the Gulf of Cadiz (<0.2). Regarding wave DWNT index (Figure 3b), it should be noted that it reaches the maximum value of 1 in most of the study area, except in the Gulf of Cadiz. The indices that account for the wind power resource variability, \(C_{v}\) and \(M_{v}\), are represented in Figure 4a,b, respectively. In general, the highest \(C_{v}\) values of 0.5 are in the ocean region south of Cape Finisterre, which is not optimal for energy production. However, the \(M_{v}\) index is very good (>0.8) for the same region. These \(M_{v}\) and \(C_{v}\) indices suggest the presence of short events linked to seasonal fronts. The behavior of the wave power resource variability shows a high resemblance with the one shown for the wind. A \(C_{v}\) index (Figure 5a) of around 0.4 is obtained for the northern part of the area, with higher values (\(\sim\)0.5) in the southern part. \(M_{v}\) (Figure 5b) shows values higher than 0.6 in the southwest region of the study area and in a small fringe along the north coast of Spain. For the rest of the area under study, \(M_{v}\) shows values of 0.5. Once again, the lowest values of \(C_{v}\) and \(M_{v}\) indices are located in the Gulf of Cadiz. Figure 6 represents the risk category that considers the EWS and EWH indices, which affect the safety related to the maneuverability of energy devices. The wind risk index (Figure 6a) shows high values (>0.8) along a narrow fringe in the coastal region, moderate values in the southwest region (0.6), and low values (<0.3) in the northwest region.