The power potential of tidal currents in channels

Garrett, Chris; Cummins, Patrick F.

doi:10.1098/rspa.2005.1494

Cited by 232 publications

(335 citation statements)

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“…Foreman et al (2004) included the Discovery Islands region in their data assimilating, barotropic, finite element model of the waters around Vancouver Island, but in this case the primary focus was M 2 tidal dissipation. Sutherland et al (2007) used a similar two-dimensional (2-D) model to estimate the tidal power potential obtained by inserting turbine farms in Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and Cordero Channel and found them to be very close to the analytical estimates provided by Garrett and Cummins (2005). This was a refinement of similar studies carried out for BC Hydro (2002) for all British Columbia waters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

A Circulation Model for the Discovery Islands, British Columbia

et al. 2012

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A finite volume, ocean circulation model was applied to the Discovery Islands region of British Columbia and used to simulate the three-dimensional velocity, temperature and salinity fields required by a companion biological transport model. The circulation model was initialized with a combination of climatological data and recent temperature and salinity observations, and forced with i) winds measured at seventeen weather stations, ii) the discharges from twelve rivers, and iii) five tidal constituents. A simulation for the period 1 April to 28 April 2010 was evaluated using simultaneous observations from three current meter moorings and the harmonics computed from historical measurements at twenty-four tide gauges. Though the model tidal elevations were shown to be in excellent agreement with the observations, profiles of model tidal speed versus depth generally did not capture observed vertical variations as well. Mean and low-pass filtered flow fields, though reasonably accurate near the surface, were also found to deteriorate farther down the water column. However, near-surface, model current harmonics were shown to be in reasonable agreement with those used to produce annual predictions at five sites in the Canadian Tide and Current Tables. Though the winds were not found to be a significant contributor to mean flow fields over the simulation period, tidal rectification was. Numerous residual and transient eddies that may lead to retentive regions in subsequent Lagrangian studies were predicted by the model. Future work and improvements to overcome model deficiencies are briefly outlined.RÉSUMÉ [Traduit par la rédaction] Nous avons appliqué un modèle de volume fini des courants océaniques à la région des îles Discovery en Colombie-Britannique et nous nous en sommes servis pour simuler les champs de la vélocité, de la température et de la salinité en trois dimensions, exigés par un modèle de transport biologique d'accompagnement. Le modèle de circulation a été initialisé au moyen d'une combinaison de données climatologiques et d'observations récentes liées à la température et à la salinité et il a été forcé avec les vents mesurés à 17 stations météorologiques, le débit de 12 cours d'eau et cinq composantes de marées. Nous avons évalué une simulation pour la période allant du 1 er avril au 28 avril 2010 à l'aide d'observations effectuées simultanément par trois courantomètres, et les harmoniques ont été calculées à partir des mesures effectuées dans le passé à 24 marégraphes. Bien que les hauteurs de la marée établies par le modèle concordent parfaitement avec les observations, les profils de la vitesse de la marée dans le modèle en fonction de la profondeur ne réflétaient généralement pas aussi bien les variations verticales observées. De plus, nous avons constaté que les champs de courant moyens et auxquels on avait appliqué un filtre passe-bas perdaient en précision plus bas dans la colonne d'eau bien que leur valeur près de la surface soit raisonnablement exacte. Cependant, les harmoniques des c...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

A Circulation Model for the Discovery Islands, British Columbia

et al. 2012

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“…the addition of a second and third row of turbines at a given location does not double and triple the available power. This well-known result is due to the fact that although adding rows to an array does increase its total power output, it also increases the resistance to flow through the array, thereby reducing the amount of power available to the turbines within it (Garrett and Cummins 2005;Vennell 2010). The sub-grid-scale actuator disc model also enables comparison, in terms of power per swept area, between different development options.…”

Section: Resource Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Harmonic analysis of these datasets reveals five significant tidal constituents, but, to simplify calibration, only the largest of these, which are expected to contribute disproportionately to the available power (Garrett and Cummins 2005;Adcock et al 2014), are used. The eastern and western flow boundaries are forced with M2 and S2 tides, the amplitudes of which are adjusted to improve the agreement between the water level results and the TotalTide predictions.…”

Section: Model Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Malaysian tidal stream energy resource using an upper bound approach

Bonar

Schnabl

Lee

et al. 2018

J. Ocean Eng. Mar. Energy

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In this paper, an upper bound approach is used to determine the maximum power available to tidal stream turbines placed at five sites along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. A depth-averaged hydrodynamic model of the Malacca Strait is built and validated against field measurements. Actuator disc theory is then used to introduce rows of tidal stream turbines as line sinks of momentum and to determine the maximum time-averaged power available to rows of both moderately sized and very large turbines, placed strategically at the locations of highest naturally occurring kinetic energy flux. Results suggest that although the Malaysian tidal stream energy resource is not large enough to make a significant contribution to the country's energy mix, there may yet be opportunities to use low-speed tidal turbines in small-scale and off-grid electricity generation schemes. Methods are described in detail and links to source codes and results are provided to encourage the application of this simple, yet effective resource assessment methodology to other promising tidal energy sites.

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“…As the calculation in KMLH [4] illustrates, calculating this flow is essential in determining the power potential of a channel and the impact that power extraction will have on the flow through the channel. Recently, Vennell [13] illustrated that the turbine fence model of Garrett & Cummins [9] could be combined with the power theory of Garrett & Cummins [5] to determine the power potential of a partial turbine fence in a given tidal flow. His analysis illustrated a couple of key points.…”

Section: Theoretical Assessment Of Turbine Fencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A more recent assessment of the power potential of Minas Passage was presented by Karsten, McMillan, Lickley and Haynes [4] (hereafter KMLH). KMLH adapted the results of Garrett & Cummins [5] to the case of a channel connecting a tidal basin to the ocean. They found that the maximum extractable mean power is given by…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of arrays of in-stream tidal turbines in the Bay of Fundy

Karsten

Swan

Culina

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Theories of in-stream turbines are adapted to analyse the potential electricity generation and impact of turbine arrays deployed in Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy. Linear momentum actuator disc theory (LMADT) is combined with a theory that calculates the flux through the passage to determine both the turbine power and the impact of rows of turbine fences. For realistically small blockage ratios, the theory predicts that extracting 2000-2500 MW of turbine power will result in a reduction in the flow of less than 5 per cent. The theory also suggests that there is little reason to tune the turbines if the blockage ratio remains small. A turbine array model is derived that extends LMADT by using the velocity field from a numerical simulation of the flow through Minas Passage and modelling the turbine wakes. The model calculates the resulting speed of the flow through and around a turbine array, allowing for the sequential positioning of turbines in regions of strongest flow. The model estimates that over 2000 MW of power is possible with only a 2.5 per cent reduction in the flow. If turbines are restricted to depths less than 50 m, the potential power generation is reduced substantially, down to 300 MW. For large turbine arrays, the blockage ratios remain small and the turbines can produce maximum power with a drag coefficient equal to the Betz-limit value.

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The power potential of tidal currents in channels

Cited by 232 publications

References 6 publications

A Circulation Model for the Discovery Islands, British Columbia

A Circulation Model for the Discovery Islands, British Columbia

Assessment of the Malaysian tidal stream energy resource using an upper bound approach

Assessment of arrays of in-stream tidal turbines in the Bay of Fundy

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