Objective representative flow field selection for tidal array layout design

Connor Jordan, Joseba Agirre and Athanasios Angeloudis

Renewable Energy, 2024, vol. 236, issue C

Abstract: The representation of flow across influential spatiotemporal scales introduces a challenge when micro-siting tidal stream turbine arrays. Robust representative approximations could accelerate design optimisation, yet there is no consensus on what defines the most appropriate flow conditions. We summarise existing approaches to representative flow field selection for array optimisation and propose an objective-driven process. The method curates a subset of flow fields that best captures relevant dynamics, enabling the streamlined representation of tidal cycles. To demonstrate the method, we consider flow modelling data in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, Scotland, UK. We examine the impact of flow field inputs to array design through comparative analyses using a heuristic array optimisation process. Results indicate notable sensitivity of the turbine layout to the flow conditions selected. For the case study presented, our method led to 4%–5% energy yield prediction improvements relative to use of simple time-interval based approaches and up to 2% improvement against using peak flow fields; these can be pivotal margins to secure feasibility by developers. We also find that using the data associated with a single monitored point across the array for flow field selection can lead to sub-optimal results, emphasising the need for accurate spatiotemporal representation.

Keywords: Optimisation; Flow field selection; Tidal energy; Tidal array (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148124014496
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:236:y:2024:i:c:s0960148124014496

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121381

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 ().