Site assessment methodology for offshore tidal current plants: a preliminary investigation

摘要

Tidal currents offer a potentially significant source of renewable energy. Studies commissioned by government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), through its framework of non-nuclear energy programmes, have shown that the European resource potentially exceeds 12.5 GW installed capacity. Until now, however, estimates of the size of the potential resource and the cost of its exploitation have not taken into account benefits associated with optimisation of operational system characteristics in the context of the local conditions. This on-going project aims to develop a methodology for the optimal matching, both electrical and economic, of tidal current driven turbines to the nature of local flow conditions.