IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v201y2022ip1p323-343.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Rance tidal power station: Toward a better understanding of sediment dynamics in response to power generation

Author

Listed:
  • Rtimi, Rajae
  • Sottolichio, Aldo
  • Tassi, Pablo

Abstract

A three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic and morphodynamic numerical model was developed to analyze sediment dynamics in the Rance estuary, in response to the tidal power station (TPS) built near the mouth in the 1960s. The Rance estuary is a relatively small low-discharge steep-sided ria, located along the Brittany coast in northern France, with a maximum spring tidal range of 13.5m. Taking advantage of this significant tidal regime, the first and currently the second largest operational tidal power station in the world was built at the estuary’s mouth, with peak output capacity of 240MW. After calibration and validation of the model for present-day conditions, suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and bed level evolution were evaluated at tidal and fortnightly scales for different scenarios, with and without TPS. Peak SSC are reached during spring tides and specifically during the estuary’s infilling (flood) stage where both turbines and sluice gates are open. Unbalanced with sediment transport during ebb, sediments are accumulated in the main channel of the upper estuary. Under natural tidal forcing (i.e., without TPS), simulations show that an estuarine turbidity maximum forms in the upper estuary, and sediment deposition is significant. However, sedimentation rates are two times lower than those observed in the presence of the TPS. A possible alternative for reducing sediment accumulation in the upper estuary would be the opening of sluice gates simultaneously with the turbines during falling tide, to enhance ebb currents that would allow particles transport towards the estuary’s downstream.

Suggested Citation

  • Rtimi, Rajae & Sottolichio, Aldo & Tassi, Pablo, 2022. "The Rance tidal power station: Toward a better understanding of sediment dynamics in response to power generation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 323-343.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:201:y:2022:i:p1:p:323-343
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.10.061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122015543
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2022.10.061?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neill, Simon P. & Angeloudis, Athanasios & Robins, Peter E. & Walkington, Ian & Ward, Sophie L. & Masters, Ian & Lewis, Matt J. & Piano, Marco & Avdis, Alexandros & Piggott, Matthew D. & Aggidis, Geor, 2018. "Tidal range energy resource and optimization – Past perspectives and future challenges," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 763-778.
    2. Robins, Peter E. & Neill, Simon P. & Lewis, Matt J., 2014. "Impact of tidal-stream arrays in relation to the natural variability of sedimentary processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 311-321.
    3. Neill, Simon P. & Litt, Emmer J. & Couch, Scott J. & Davies, Alan G., 2009. "The impact of tidal stream turbines on large-scale sediment dynamics," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2803-2812.
    4. Ross, Lauren & Sottolichio, Aldo & Huybrechts, Nicolas & Brunet, Pascal, 2021. "Tidal turbines in the estuarine environment: From identifying optimal location to environmental impact," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 700-713.
    5. Kim, J.W. & Ha, H.K. & Woo, S.-B. & Kim, M.-S. & Kwon, H.-K., 2021. "Unbalanced sediment transport by tidal power generation in Lake Sihwa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1133-1144.
    6. Pacheco, A. & Ferreira, Ó., 2016. "Hydrodynamic changes imposed by tidal energy converters on extracting energy on a real case scenario," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 369-385.
    7. Pelc, Robin & Fujita, Rod M., 2002. "Renewable energy from the ocean," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 471-479, November.
    8. Kai-Wern Ng & Wei-Haur Lam & Khai-Ching Ng, 2013. "2002–2012: 10 Years of Research Progress in Horizontal-Axis Marine Current Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-30, March.
    9. O Rourke, Fergal & Boyle, Fergal & Reynolds, Anthony, 2010. "Tidal energy update 2009," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 398-409, February.
    10. Fairley, I. & Masters, I. & Karunarathna, H., 2015. "The cumulative impact of tidal stream turbine arrays on sediment transport in the Pentland Firth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 755-769.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deng, Guizhong & Zhang, Zhaoru & Li, Ye & Liu, Hailong & Xu, Wentao & Pan, Yulin, 2020. "Prospective of development of large-scale tidal current turbine array: An example numerical investigation of Zhejiang, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    2. Li, Gang & Zhu, Weidong, 2023. "Tidal current energy harvesting technologies: A review of current status and life cycle assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    3. Christelle Auguste & Philip Marsh & Jean-Roch Nader & Remo Cossu & Irene Penesis, 2020. "Towards a Tidal Farm in Banks Strait, Tasmania: Influence of Tidal Array on Hydrodynamics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Zarzuelo, Carmen & López-Ruiz, Alejandro & Ortega-Sánchez, Miguel, 2018. "Impact of human interventions on tidal stream power: The case of Cádiz Bay," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 88-104.
    5. Nash, S. & Phoenix, A., 2017. "A review of the current understanding of the hydro-environmental impacts of energy removal by tidal turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 648-662.
    6. Fairley, I. & Masters, I. & Karunarathna, H., 2015. "The cumulative impact of tidal stream turbine arrays on sediment transport in the Pentland Firth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 755-769.
    7. Auguste, Christelle & Nader, Jean-Roch & Marsh, Philip & Cossu, Remo & Penesis, Irene, 2021. "Variability of sediment processes around a tidal farm in a theoretical channel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 606-620.
    8. Aguiar, Alessandro L. & Marta-Almeida, Martinho & Cirano, Mauro & Pereira, Janini & da Cunha, Letícia Cotrim, 2024. "Numerical assessment of tidal potential energy in the Brazilian Equatorial Shelf," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    9. Li, Xiaorong & Li, Ming & Wolf, Judith & Williams, Alison J. & Badoe, Charles & Masters, Ian, 2024. "Local and regional interactions between tidal stream turbines and coastal environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    10. de Fockert, Anton & Bijlsma, Arnout C. & O'Mahoney, Tom S.D. & Verbruggen, Wilbert & Scheijgrond, Peter C. & Wang, Zheng B., 2023. "Assessment of the impact of tidal power extraction from the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier through the evaluation of a pilot plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 109-120.
    11. Kim, J.W. & Ha, H.K. & Woo, S.-B. & Kim, M.-S. & Kwon, H.-K., 2021. "Unbalanced sediment transport by tidal power generation in Lake Sihwa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1133-1144.
    12. Gang Li & Weidong Zhu, 2022. "A Review on Up-to-Date Gearbox Technologies and Maintenance of Tidal Current Energy Converters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Fairley, I. & Karunarathna, H. & Masters, I., 2018. "The influence of waves on morphodynamic impacts of energy extraction at a tidal stream turbine site in the Pentland Firth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 630-647.
    14. Segura, E. & Morales, R. & Somolinos, J.A., 2018. "A strategic analysis of tidal current energy conversion systems in the European Union," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 527-551.
    15. Neill, Simon P. & Vögler, Arne & Goward-Brown, Alice J. & Baston, Susana & Lewis, Matthew J. & Gillibrand, Philip A. & Waldman, Simon & Woolf, David K., 2017. "The wave and tidal resource of Scotland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 3-17.
    16. González-Gorbeña, Eduardo & Qassim, Raad Y. & Rosman, Paulo C.C., 2018. "Multi-dimensional optimisation of Tidal Energy Converters array layouts considering geometric, economic and environmental constraints," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 647-658.
    17. Kai-Wern Ng & Wei-Haur Lam & Khai-Ching Ng, 2013. "2002–2012: 10 Years of Research Progress in Horizontal-Axis Marine Current Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-30, March.
    18. Lewis, M. & Neill, S.P. & Robins, P.E. & Hashemi, M.R., 2015. "Resource assessment for future generations of tidal-stream energy arrays," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 403-415.
    19. De Dominicis, Michela & O'Hara Murray, Rory & Wolf, Judith, 2017. "Multi-scale ocean response to a large tidal stream turbine array," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 1160-1179.
    20. Sangiuliano, Stephen J., 2017. "Planning for tidal current turbine technology: A case study of the Gulf of St. Lawrence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 805-813.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:201:y:2022:i:p1:p:323-343. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.