Multi-criteria evaluation of potential Australian tidal energy sites

Philip Marsh, Irene Penesis, Jean-Roch Nader and Remo Cossu

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 175, issue C, 453-469

Abstract: Most tidal energy site studies concentrate on resource size; few examine other factors that may be of equal or even greater importance in determining site feasibility for tidal turbine array deployments. These factors include aspects such as electrical grid proximity, water depth, the location of marine protected areas, pre-existing users, environmentally significant regions and other restrictions. Using these factors, a more holistic approach to site selection was conducted for Australian waters using a Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) process. This MCE method uses standardized factors combined with weighted linear combinations to calculate a site suitability index, where each factor is multiplied by a weight of relative importance. A sensitivity analysis on the factor weighting was performed to ensure the suitable selection of weighting factors to reduce conformation bias. The developed MCE model identified three promising locations in Australia, with contiguous areas in regions to the north of Broome Western Australia of 534 km2, the Banks Strait region northeast of Tasmania of 67 km2, and the Clarence Strait located in the Northern Territory of <1 km2 found. Additional examinations of possible co-location of tidal energy devices with wind and wave energy were examined.

Keywords: Ocean energy; Tidal stream turbine; Multi-criteria evaluation; Site selection; Resource assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148121006133
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:175:y:2021:i:c:p:453-469

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.04.093

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().