Deployment characterization of a floatable tidal energy converter on a tidal channel, Ria Formosa, Portugal

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a pilot experiment with an existing tidal energy converter (TEC), Evopod 1 kW floatable prototype, in a real test case scenario (Faro Channel, Ria Formosa, Portugal). A baseline marine geophysical, hydrodynamic and ecological study based on the experience collected on the test site is presented. The collected data was used to validate a hydro-morphodynamic model, allowing the selection of the installation area based on both operational and environmental constraints. Operational results related to the description of power generation capacity, energy capture area and proportion of energy flux are presented and discussed, including the failures occurring during the experimental setup. The data is now available to the scientific community and to TEC industry developers, enhancing the operational knowledge of TEC technology concerning efficiency, environmental effects, and interactions (i.e. device/environment). The results can be used by developers on the licensing process, on overcoming the commercial deployment barriers, on offering extra assurance and confidence to investors, who traditionally have seen environmental concerns as a barrier, and on providing the foundations whereupon similar deployment areas can be considered around the world for marine tidal energy extraction.

A Review of Modeling Approaches for Understanding and Monitoring the Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy

“…By harvesting energy, operating ME devices may modify the direction and magnitude of currents [31], water surface elevations (WSEs) [32,33], turbulence [34,35], and wave height and direction [36] near and downstream of the devices. The nature of the changes varies by device and placement within the environment.…”

Estimating the optimum size of a tidal array at a multi-inlet system considering environmental and performance constraints

“…depth and current velocities). Using mooring tension data from an Evopod 1:10 th scale prototype deployment [52] and by fitting to the data a quadratic drag law of the form y = Ax 2 + b with y = FT,x , b = FT,o, x = U; and A = 0.5ρ(CT AT + Cs As) an overall CT is obtained. Values given by the manufacturer for Cs and As, are 0.15 and 2 m 2 , respectively, resulting in a CT = 0.4.…”

Sea level rise will change estuarine tidal energy: A review

“…Indeed, tidal energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources given its advantages including that it is highly predictable, cost-effective, presents high load factors (water is approximately 800 times denser than air), and has limited environmental impacts [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Therefore, the efficient exploitation of this underutilised resource can increase the future share of renewable energies in the energy mix and thus, meeting the ambitious decarbonisation targets worldwide [19,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”