IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i9p3923-d1140533.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact on Energy Yield of Varying Turbine Designs under Conditions of Misalignment to the Current Flow

Author

Listed:
  • Luke Evans

    (EPSRC and NERC Centre for Doctoral Training in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE), The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3DW, UK
    European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Research Engineer, Orkney, Old Academy Business Centre, Back Road, Stromness KW16 3AW, UK)

  • Ian Ashton

    (College of Engineering Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK)

  • Brian G. Sellar

    (School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh (UoE), Edinburgh EH9 3DW, UK)

Abstract

Tidal energy resource characterisation using acoustic velocimetry sensors mounted on the seabed informs developers of the location and performance of a tidal energy converter (TEC). This work studies the consequences of miscalculating the established flow direction, i.e., the direction of assumed maximum energy yield. Considering data only above the proposed TEC cut-in velocities showed a difference in the estimated flow direction of up to 4°. Using a power weighted rotor average (PWRA) method to obtain the established flow direction resulted in a difference of less than 1° compared with the hub-height estimate. This study then analysed the impact of turbine alignment on annual energy production (AEP) estimates for a non-yawing tidal turbine. Three variants of horizontal axis tidal turbines, which operate in different locations of the water column, were examined; one using measured data, and the other two via modelled through power curves. During perfect alignment to the established flow direction, natural variations in flow meant that the estimate of AEP differed by up to 1.1% from the theoretical maximum of a fully yawed turbine. In the case of misalignment from the established flow direction, the difference in AEP increased. For a 15° misalignment, the AEP differed by up to 13%. These results quantify important uncertainties in tidal energy site design and performance assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Luke Evans & Ian Ashton & Brian G. Sellar, 2023. "Impact on Energy Yield of Varying Turbine Designs under Conditions of Misalignment to the Current Flow," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3923-:d:1140533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3923/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3923/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrold, Magnus & Ouro, Pablo & O’Doherty, Tim, 2020. "Performance assessment of a tidal turbine using two flow references," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 624-633.
    2. Lewis, M.J. & Neill, S.P. & Hashemi, M.R. & Reza, M., 2014. "Realistic wave conditions and their influence on quantifying the tidal stream energy resource," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 495-508.
    3. Brian G. Sellar & Gareth Wakelam & Duncan R. J. Sutherland & David M. Ingram & Vengatesan Venugopal, 2018. "Characterisation of Tidal Flows at the European Marine Energy Centre in the Absence of Ocean Waves," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Qian, Peng & Feng, Bo & Liu, Hao & Tian, Xiange & Si, Yulin & Zhang, Dahai, 2019. "Review on configuration and control methods of tidal current turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 125-139.
    5. Perez, Larissa & Cossu, Remo & Grinham, Alistair & Penesis, Irene, 2022. "An investigation of tidal turbine performance and loads under various turbulence conditions using Blade Element Momentum theory and high-frequency field data acquired in two prospective tidal energy s," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 928-937.
    6. Harding, S.F. & Bryden, I.G., 2012. "Directionality in prospective Northern UK tidal current energy deployment sites," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 474-477.
    7. Piano, M. & Neill, S.P. & Lewis, M.J. & Robins, P.E. & Hashemi, M.R. & Davies, A.G. & Ward, S.L. & Roberts, M.J., 2017. "Tidal stream resource assessment uncertainty due to flow asymmetry and turbine yaw misalignment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 1363-1375.
    8. Galloway, Pascal W. & Myers, Luke E. & Bahaj, AbuBakr S., 2014. "Quantifying wave and yaw effects on a scale tidal stream turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 297-307.
    9. 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.
    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. Piano, M. & Neill, S.P. & Lewis, M.J. & Robins, P.E. & Hashemi, M.R. & Davies, A.G. & Ward, S.L. & Roberts, M.J., 2017. "Tidal stream resource assessment uncertainty due to flow asymmetry and turbine yaw misalignment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 1363-1375.
    2. Draycott, S. & Sellar, B. & Davey, T. & Noble, D.R. & Venugopal, V. & Ingram, D.M., 2019. "Capture and simulation of the ocean environment for offshore renewable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 15-29.
    3. Zhang, Yuquan & Zang, Wei & Zheng, Jinhai & Cappietti, Lorenzo & Zhang, Jisheng & Zheng, Yuan & Fernandez-Rodriguez, E., 2021. "The influence of waves propagating with the current on the wake of a tidal stream turbine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    4. Aguayo, Maichel M. & Fierro, Pablo E. & De la Fuente, Rodrigo A. & Sepúlveda, Ignacio A. & Figueroa, Dante M., 2021. "A mixed-integer programming methodology to design tidal current farms integrating both cost and benefits: A case study in the Chacao Channel, Chile," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    5. Yuquan Zhang & Jisheng Zhang & Yuan Zheng & Chunxia Yang & Wei Zang & E. Fernandez-Rodriguez, 2017. "Experimental Analysis and Evaluation of the Numerical Prediction of Wake Characteristics of Tidal Stream Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Lewis, Matt & McNaughton, James & Márquez-Dominguez, Concha & Todeschini, Grazia & Togneri, Michael & Masters, Ian & Allmark, Matthew & Stallard, Tim & Neill, Simon & Goward-Brown, Alice & Robins, Pet, 2019. "Power variability of tidal-stream energy and implications for electricity supply," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1061-1074.
    7. Roche, R.C. & Walker-Springett, K. & Robins, P.E. & Jones, J. & Veneruso, G. & Whitton, T.A. & Piano, M. & Ward, S.L. & Duce, C.E. & Waggitt, J.J. & Walker-Springett, G.R. & Neill, S.P. & Lewis, M.J. , 2016. "Research priorities for assessing potential impacts of emerging marine renewable energy technologies: Insights from developments in Wales (UK)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1327-1341.
    8. Hashemi, M. Reza & Neill, Simon P. & Robins, Peter E. & Davies, Alan G. & Lewis, Matt J., 2015. "Effect of waves on the tidal energy resource at a planned tidal stream array," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 626-639.
    9. Brown, S.A. & Ransley, E.J. & Xie, N. & Monk, K. & De Angelis, G.M. & Nicholls-Lee, R. & Guerrini, E. & Greaves, D.M., 2021. "On the impact of motion-thrust coupling in floating tidal energy applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PB).
    10. Ian Masters & Alison Williams & T. Nick Croft & Michael Togneri & Matt Edmunds & Enayatollah Zangiabadi & Iain Fairley & Harshinie Karunarathna, 2015. "A Comparison of Numerical Modelling Techniques for Tidal Stream Turbine Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-21, July.
    11. Marco Piano & Peter E. Robins & Alan G. Davies & Simon P. Neill, 2018. "The Influence of Intra-Array Wake Dynamics on Depth-Averaged Kinetic Tidal Turbine Energy Extraction Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Zhang, Yuquan & Wei, Wenqian & Zheng, Jinhai & Peng, Bin & Qian, Yaoru & Li, Chengyi & Zheng, Yuan & Fernandez-Rodriguez, Emmanuel & Yu, An, 2023. "Quantifying the surge-induced response of a floating tidal stream turbine under wave-current flows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    13. Lewis, M.J. & Angeloudis, A. & Robins, P.E. & Evans, P.S. & Neill, S.P., 2017. "Influence of storm surge on tidal range energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 25-36.
    14. Fairley, I. & Smith, H.C.M. & Robertson, B. & Abusara, M. & Masters, I., 2017. "Spatio-temporal variation in wave power and implications for electricity supply," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 154-165.
    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. Dong, Yongjun & Guo, Jingfu & Chen, Jianmei & Sun, Chao & Zhu, Wanqiang & Chen, Liwei & Zhang, Xueming, 2021. "Development of a 300 kW horizontal-axis tidal stream energy conversion system with adaptive variable-pitch turbine and direct-drive PMSG," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    17. Frost, Carwyn H. & Evans, Paul S. & Harrold, Magnus J. & Mason-Jones, Allan & O'Doherty, Tim & O'Doherty, Daphne M., 2017. "The impact of axial flow misalignment on a tidal turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1333-1344.
    18. Perez, Larissa & Cossu, Remo & Grinham, Alistair & Penesis, Irene, 2021. "Seasonality of turbulence characteristics and wave-current interaction in two prospective tidal energy sites," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 1322-1336.
    19. Wei-Bo Chen & Hongey Chen & Lee-Yaw Lin & Yi-Chiang Yu, 2017. "Tidal Current Power Resources and Influence of Sea-Level Rise in the Coastal Waters of Kinmen Island, Taiwan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Van Thinh Nguyen & Alina Santa Cruz & Sylvain S. Guillou & Mohamad N. Shiekh Elsouk & Jérôme Thiébot, 2019. "Effects of the Current Direction on the Energy Production of a Tidal Farm: The Case of Raz Blanchard (France)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-20, June.

    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:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3923-:d:1140533. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.