IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v134y2017icp649-658.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economics of electricity generation from Gulf Stream currents

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Binghui
  • de Queiroz, Anderson Rodrigo
  • DeCarolis, Joseph F.
  • Bane, John
  • He, Ruoying
  • Keeler, Andrew G.
  • Neary, Vincent S.

Abstract

Hydrokinetic turbines harnessing energy from ocean currents represent a potential low carbon electricity source. This study provides a detailed techno-economic assessment of ocean turbines operating in the Gulf Stream off the North Carolina coast. Using hindcast data from a high-resolution ocean circulation model in conjunction with the US Department of Energy's reference model 4 (RM4) for ocean turbines, we examine resource quality and apply portfolio optimization to identify the best candidate sites for ocean turbine deployment. We find that the lowest average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from a single site can reach 400 $/MWh. By optimally selecting geographically dispersed sites and taking advantage of economies of scale, the variations in total energy output can be reduced by an order of magnitude while keeping the LCOE below 300 $/MWh. Power take-off and transmission infrastructure are the largest cost drivers, and variation in resource quality can have a significant influence on the project LCOE. While this study focuses on a limited spatial domain, it provides a framework to assess the techno-economic feasibility of ocean current energy in other western boundary currents.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Binghui & de Queiroz, Anderson Rodrigo & DeCarolis, Joseph F. & Bane, John & He, Ruoying & Keeler, Andrew G. & Neary, Vincent S., 2017. "The economics of electricity generation from Gulf Stream currents," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 649-658.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:134:y:2017:i:c:p:649-658
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217310423
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.048?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, Xiufeng & Haas, Kevin A. & Fritz, Hermann M. & French, Steven P. & Shi, Xuan & Neary, Vincent S. & Gunawan, Budi, 2015. "National geodatabase of ocean current power resource in USA," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 496-507.
    2. Batten, W.M.J. & Bahaj, A.S. & Molland, A.F. & Chaplin, J.R., 2008. "The prediction of the hydrodynamic performance of marine current turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 1085-1096.
    3. Chen, Falin, 2010. "Kuroshio power plant development plan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2655-2668, December.
    4. Batten, W.M.J. & Bahaj, A.S. & Molland, A.F. & Chaplin, J.R., 2006. "Hydrodynamics of marine current turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 249-256.
    5. Crama, Y. & Schyns, M., 2003. "Simulated annealing for complex portfolio selection problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(3), pages 546-571, November.
    6. Roques, Fabien & Hiroux, Céline & Saguan, Marcelo, 2010. "Optimal wind power deployment in Europe--A portfolio approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3245-3256, July.
    7. Mansini, Renata & Ogryczak, Wlodzimierz & Speranza, M. Grazia, 2014. "Twenty years of linear programming based portfolio optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 518-535.
    8. Novacheck, Joshua & Johnson, Jeremiah X., 2017. "Diversifying wind power in real power systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 177-185.
    9. Tsao, Che-Chih & Feng, An-Hsuan & Hsieh, Chieh & Fan, Kang-Hsien, 2017. "Marine current power with Cross-stream Active Mooring: Part I," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 144-154.
    10. Westner, Günther & Madlener, Reinhard, 2011. "Development of cogeneration in Germany: A mean-variance portfolio analysis of individual technology’s prospects in view of the new regulatory framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 5301-5313.
    11. Santos-Alamillos, F.J. & Thomaidis, N.S. & Usaola-García, J. & Ruiz-Arias, J.A. & Pozo-Vázquez, D., 2017. "Exploring the mean-variance portfolio optimization approach for planning wind repowering actions in Spain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 335-342.
    12. Bahaj, A.S & Myers, L.E, 2003. "Fundamentals applicable to the utilisation of marine current turbines for energy production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(14), pages 2205-2211.
    13. Rourke, Fergal O. & Boyle, Fergal & Reynolds, Anthony, 2010. "Marine current energy devices: Current status and possible future applications in Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1026-1036, April.
    14. Kabir, Asif & Lemongo-Tchamba, Ivan & Fernandez, Arturo, 2015. "An assessment of available ocean current hydrokinetic energy near the North Carolina shore," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 301-307.
    15. Bahaj, A.S. & Molland, A.F. & Chaplin, J.R. & Batten, W.M.J., 2007. "Power and thrust measurements of marine current turbines under various hydrodynamic flow conditions in a cavitation tunnel and a towing tank," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 407-426.
    16. Drake, Ben & Hubacek, Klaus, 2007. "What to expect from a greater geographic dispersion of wind farms?--A risk portfolio approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3999-4008, August.
    17. Myers, L.E. & Bahaj, A.S., 2012. "An experimental investigation simulating flow effects in first generation marine current energy converter arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 28-36.
    18. Yang, Xiufeng & Haas, Kevin A. & Fritz, Hermann M., 2014. "Evaluating the potential for energy extraction from turbines in the gulf stream system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 12-21.
    19. Bahaj, A.S. & Batten, W.M.J. & McCann, G., 2007. "Experimental verifications of numerical predictions for the hydrodynamic performance of horizontal axis marine current turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(15), pages 2479-2490.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Razi, P. & Ramaprabhu, P. & Tarey, P. & Muglia, M. & Vermillion, C., 2022. "A low-order wake interaction modeling framework for the performance of ocean current turbines under turbulent conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1602-1617.
    2. de Faria, Victor A.D. & de Queiroz, Anderson R. & DeCarolis, Joseph F., 2022. "Optimizing offshore renewable portfolios under resource variability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    3. Okampo, Ewaoche John & Nwulu, Nnamdi, 2021. "Optimisation of renewable energy powered reverse osmosis desalination systems: A state-of-the-art review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Faria, Victor A.D. & Rodrigo de Queiroz, Anderson & DeCarolis, Joseph F., 2023. "Scenario generation and risk-averse stochastic portfolio optimization applied to offshore renewable energy technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    5. Li, Zhenyu & Siddiqi, Afreen & Anadon, Laura Diaz & Narayanamurti, Venkatesh, 2018. "Towards sustainability in water-energy nexus: Ocean energy for seawater desalination," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3833-3847.

    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. Kai-Wern Ng & Wei-Haur Lam & Khai-Ching Ng, 2013. "2002–2012: 10 Years of Research Progress in Horizontal-Axis Marine Current Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-30, March.
    2. Nachtane, M. & Tarfaoui, M. & Goda, I. & Rouway, M., 2020. "A review on the technologies, design considerations and numerical models of tidal current turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 1274-1288.
    3. Abutunis, Abdulaziz & Hussein, Rafid & Chandrashekhara, K., 2019. "A neural network approach to enhance blade element momentum theory performance for horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine application," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1281-1293.
    4. Chen, Long & Lam, Wei-Haur, 2015. "A review of survivability and remedial actions of tidal current turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 891-900.
    5. Luznik, Luksa & Flack, Karen A. & Lust, Ethan E. & Taylor, Katharin, 2013. "The effect of surface waves on the performance characteristics of a model tidal turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 108-114.
    6. Wang, Wen-Quan & Yin, Rui & Yan, Yan, 2019. "Design and prediction hydrodynamic performance of horizontal axis micro-hydrokinetic river turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 91-102.
    7. Huang, B. & Kanemoto, T., 2015. "Multi-objective numerical optimization of the front blade pitch angle distribution in a counter-rotating type horizontal-axis tidal turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 837-844.
    8. Rourke, Fergal O. & Boyle, Fergal & Reynolds, Anthony, 2010. "Marine current energy devices: Current status and possible future applications in Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1026-1036, April.
    9. Li, Wei & Zhou, Hongbin & Liu, Hongwei & Lin, Yonggang & Xu, Quankun, 2016. "Review on the blade design technologies of tidal current turbine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 414-422.
    10. Castro, Gabriel Malta & Klöckl, Claude & Regner, Peter & Schmidt, Johannes & Pereira, Amaro Olimpio, 2022. "Improvements to Modern Portfolio Theory based models applied to electricity systems," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    11. Shahriari, Mehdi & Blumsack, Seth, 2018. "The capacity value of optimal wind and solar portfolios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 992-1005.
    12. Goundar, Jai N. & Ahmed, M. Rafiuddin, 2014. "Marine current energy resource assessment and design of a marine current turbine for Fiji," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 14-22.
    13. Liu, Hong-wei & Ma, Shun & Li, Wei & Gu, Hai-gang & Lin, Yong-gang & Sun, Xiao-jing, 2011. "A review on the development of tidal current energy in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1141-1146, February.
    14. Hu, Jing & Harmsen, Robert & Crijns-Graus, Wina & Worrell, Ernst, 2019. "Geographical optimization of variable renewable energy capacity in China using modern portfolio theory," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Ilias Gavriilidis & Yuner Huang, 2021. "Finite Element Analysis of Tidal Turbine Blade Subjected to Impact Loads from Sea Animals," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, November.
    16. Modali, Pranav K. & Vinod, Ashwin & Banerjee, Arindam, 2021. "Towards a better understanding of yawed turbine wake for efficient wake steering in tidal arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 482-494.
    17. Juan F. Bárcenas Graniel & Jassiel V. H. Fontes & Hector F. Gomez Garcia & Rodolfo Silva, 2021. "Assessing Hydrokinetic Energy in the Mexican Caribbean: A Case Study in the Cozumel Channel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    18. Yuce, M. Ishak & Muratoglu, Abdullah, 2015. "Hydrokinetic energy conversion systems: A technology status review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-82.
    19. Roger Samsó & Júlia Crespin & Antonio García-Olivares & Jordi Solé, 2023. "Examining the Potential of Marine Renewable Energy: A Net Energy Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-35, May.
    20. Uşar, D. & Bal, Ş., 2015. "Cavitation simulation on horizontal axis marine current turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 15-25.

    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:eee:energy:v:134:y:2017:i:c:p:649-658. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.