Power variability of tidal-stream energy and implications for electricity supply

Lewis, Matt, McNaughton, James, Márquez-Dominguez, Concha, Todeschini, Grazia, Togneri, Michael, Masters, Ian, Allmark, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6812-3571, Stallard, Tim, Neill, Simon, Goward-Brown, Alice and Robins, Peter 2019. Power variability of tidal-stream energy and implications for electricity supply. Energy 183 , pp. 1061-1074. 10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.181

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Abstract

Temporal variability in renewable energy presents a major challenge for electrical grid systems. Tides are considered predictable due to their regular periodicity; however, the persistence and quality of tidal-stream generated electricity is unknown. This paper is the first study that attempts to address this knowledge gap through direct measurements of rotor-shaft power and shore-side voltage from a 1 MW, rated at grid-connection, tidal turbine (Orkney Islands, UK). Tidal asymmetry in turbulence parameters, flow speed and power variability were observed. Variability in the power at 0.5 Hz, associated with the 10-min running mean, was low (standard deviation 10–12% of rated power), with lower variability associated with higher flow speed and reduced turbulence intensity. Variability of shore-side measured voltage was well within acceptable levels (∼0.3% at 0.5 Hz). Variability in turbine power had <1% difference in energy yield calculation, even with a skewed power variability distribution. Finally, using a “t-location” distribution of observed fine-scale power variability, in combination with an idealised power curve, a synthetic power variability model reliably downscaled 30 min tidal velocity simulations to power at 0.5 Hz (R2 = 85% and ∼14% error). Therefore, the predictability and quality of tidal-stream energy was high and may be undervalued in a future, high-penetration renewable energy, electricity grid.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Additional Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International license.
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0360-5442
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 August 2019
Date of Acceptance:	29 June 2019
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 12:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/125036

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