A review of tidal energy—Resource, feedbacks, and environmental interactions

Neill, Simon P.; Haas, Kevin A.; Thiebot, Jérôme; Yang, Zhaoqing

doi:10.1063/5.0069452

Cited by 29 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 139 publications

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“…Lewis et al (2021) performed a comprehensive global resource assessment and found that maximum flow velocities over 1 m s −1 are attained in less than 13% of the world's coastline, whilst only 3.6% feature flow speeds over 1.5 m s −1 . Neill et al (2021) identified that developing technologies for currents of 1.5 m s −1 would increase by 16 times the number of sites suitable for harnessing tidal stream energy compared to the present HATs design targeting at 2.5 m s −1 currents. For these low-to-medium resource locations, vertical axis turbines (VATs) arise as a suitable technology capable of operating efficiently in lowto-medium velocities and at lower tip-speed ratios, beneficial to lower risk of collision of fish (Castro-Santos and Haro 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Power density capacity of tidal stream turbine arrays with horizontal and vertical axis turbines

Ouro

Dené

Garcia-Novo³

et al. 2022

J. Ocean Eng. Mar. Energy

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Tidal and wind energy projects almost exclusively adopt horizontal axis turbines (HATs) due to their maturity. In contrast, vertical axis turbines (VATs) have received limited consideration for large-scale deployment, partly because of their earlier technology readiness level. This paper analyses the power density of turbine arrays comprising aligned and staggered configurations with decreasing turbine spacing of HATs and VATs with height-to-diameter aspect ratios from one to four at three real tidal sites. The VAT rotor has vertical blades extending over a portion of the water depth on a circular frame. Equivalent diameter is defined as $$D_0$$ D 0 = $$\sqrt{A}$$ A based on the projected rotor area for both VATs and HATs. The three-dimensional velocity field is computed using analytical wake models that capture cumulative wake effects. At highly energetic sites, e.g. Ramsey Sound (UK), HATs are the most suitable technology attaining power densities beyond 100 W m$$^{-2}$$ - 2 , whilst VATs provide higher power densities than HATs at those sites with low-to-medium velocities, e.g. Ría de Vigo (Spain) and Kobe Strait (Japan). At the latter site, VATs provided up to 35% larger energy yield than HATs over a 14-day tidal cycle. Our results show that VATs with height-to-diameter aspect ratios larger than three notably reduce wake effects even when deployed with a normalised turbine spacing of two $$D_0$$ D 0 , reaching an average power density capacity of 40.7 W m$$^{-2}$$ - 2 compared to HATs that attain 49.3 W m$$^{-2}$$ - 2 . This study outlines the higher efficiency of tidal stream energy compared to other renewable energy resources, e.g. offshore wind farms, reaching power densities at least one order of magnitude larger, and that VATs counterbalance their smaller individual performance with improved array synergy as wake effects are limited.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Power density capacity of tidal stream turbine arrays with horizontal and vertical axis turbines

Ouro

Dené

Garcia-Novo³

et al. 2022

J. Ocean Eng. Mar. Energy

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“…In oceanography, tides are commonly defined as the periodic variations in sea level that occur due to the gravitational forces of the Sun and the moon. Tides contain potential energy associated with the vertical variations in sea level (tidal range) and kinetic energy, related to the horizontal motion of the tidal stream, and it is extracted by tidal current turbines [44,45].…”

Section: Tidal Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of using the tidal current approach, according to Bahaj [30], the power output of the marine current turbines can be calculated as a function of the density of the fluid, swept area of rotor blades and flow velocity Eq. ( 3) [44]…”

Section: Tidal Resource Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Resources from the Perspective of Wave, Tidal, and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Fouzi Alsebai,

Hooi-Siang Kang,

Omar Yaakob

et al. 2023

ARASET

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The conversion of Ocean Renewable Energy (ORE) sources to electricity could meet increasing energy demand and diversify the energy supply in Malaysia. Possessing a long coastline overlooking the South China Sea (SCS) and the Malacca strait has encouraged the Malaysian government to promote ORE and assess available resources to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. However, most of the previous attempts to assess the potential of Malaysian ORE resources have focused primarily on theoretical resource assessment, which in practice may not reflect the viability and suitability of the resource. Other technical and practical issues must be accounted for as well. This paper presents a brief description of ORE conversion technologies and reviews the existing studies on regional ORE resources in Malaysia with an emphasis dedicated to wave energy, tidal energy, and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). It also highlights the essential technical and practical constraints limiting or excluding the utilization of ORE sources. While some ORE resources, particularly the OTEC, appear to be theoretically promising for exploitation in Malaysia, this review has shown a lack of precise resource mapping linked to socio-economic and environmental constraints.

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“…In recent years, a new piece of human engineering has been introduced to some estuaries: tidal stream turbines; devices built to pull kinetic energy from tidal currents. Tidal energy is currently considered one of the most predictable and reliable sources of renewable energy available, with research and development on extraction devices expanding rapidly, making implementation increasingly feasible (e.g., Vazquez and Iglesias, 2016;Yang and Copping, 2017;Qian et al, 2019;Khanjanpour and Javadi, 2020;Neill et al, 2021). Estuaries are particularly favorable for tidal energy harvesting as they often feature fast tidal currents (relative to the open ocean) and are close to land-based electric grid connection points (Xia et al, 2010;Vazquez and Iglesias, 2015;Dıáz et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tidal energy extraction modifies tidal asymmetry and transport in a shallow, well-mixed estuary

Spicer,

Yang,

Wang

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Tidal energy extraction is increasingly being studied as a potential renewable energy resource in estuaries worldwide. Although it is understood that energy extraction via tidal stream turbines can modify currents and transport within estuaries, it is not clear how the underlying nonlinear physical mechanisms dictating tidal hydrodynamics are modulated. This research investigates the influence of a hypothetical tidal stream turbine array on barotropic tidal processes in a shallow, well-mixed system: the Piscataqua River – Great Bay (PRGB) estuary, using a numerical model. The modeled turbine farm includes 180 turbines which would extract an estimated 44.7 GWh of energy, annually. The tidal hydrodynamic model for the existing condition is validated with in-situ observations of currents and water level before analyzing tidal asymmetry and transport with and without tidal turbines. Results indicate that the tidal turbine array will decrease tidal elevation and current magnitudes system-wide, but generally reduce ebb currents and transport more than flood over most of the estuary footprint, thereby diminishing tidal asymmetry. The smaller asymmetric distortion compared to the no-turbine case is attributed to reductions in the storage volume of water over the estuary’s extensive tidal flat regions between low and high waters which decreases the associated nonlinear intertidal storage mechanism up to 25%. This leads to weakened ebb dominance over estuary sections from the mouth to mid-reaches, where depths are deep enough to keep the combined nonlinear shallow water and frictional effects from asserting control over the storage mechanism. Even in upstream shallow regions where depth-dependent friction controls asymmetry in both cases, the frictional mechanism is reduced only by 10% with turbines. Some environmental considerations of this work are discussed, with focus on sediment transport, water quality, and ecology.

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A review of tidal energy—Resource, feedbacks, and environmental interactions

Cited by 29 publications

References 139 publications

Power density capacity of tidal stream turbine arrays with horizontal and vertical axis turbines

Power density capacity of tidal stream turbine arrays with horizontal and vertical axis turbines

Review of Resources from the Perspective of Wave, Tidal, and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Tidal energy extraction modifies tidal asymmetry and transport in a shallow, well-mixed estuary

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