Assessing hydrodynamic impacts of tidal range energy impoundments in UK coastal waters

Roome, Edward, Robins, Peter, Ahmadian, Reza ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2665-4734, Austin, Martin, Hanousek, Nicolas, Guo, Bin and Neill, Simon 2024. Assessing hydrodynamic impacts of tidal range energy impoundments in UK coastal waters. Renewable Energy 237 , 121601. 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121601

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Abstract

Tidal range energy comprises a vast theoretical resource of 9,220 TWh per year, globally, with advantageous characteristics of predictability, generation flexibility and reliability. Approximately 13% of this resource lies within the United Kingdom’s (UK) coastal waters, where it could supply up to 12% of annual electricity demand. Tidal range energy conversion traditionally involves constructing and operating large-scale coastal or offshore impoundments ( 10-100 km ), which will redefine near and far-field water levels and flow patterns. The relationship between the scale of the impoundment area and hydrodynamic impact has not been investigated for UK sites. To address this, we develop a two-dimensional (depth-averaged) TELEMAC model of the Irish Sea, and simulate six scenarios involving tidal range schemes of increasing basin area, from 25 to 150 km , located on the North Wales coast in an open coastal basin setting. Results indicate that far-field ( km) changes to the amplitude of the semi-diurnal ( ) tidal constituent exhibit a linear relationship with impoundment area and volume (correlation coefficient and , respectively). The largest impoundment (150 km ) caused far-field changes in maximum surface elevation ( cm); near-field surface elevation was reduced ( cm).

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0960-1481
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	11 December 2024
Date of Acceptance:	10 October 2024
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/174603

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