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The cumulative impact of tidal stream turbine arrays on sediment transport in the Pentland Firth

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  • Fairley, I.
  • Masters, I.
  • Karunarathna, H.

Abstract

This contribution investigates the impact of the deployment of tidal stream turbine arrays on sediment dynamics and seabed morphology in the Pentland Firth, Scotland. The Pentland Firth is arguably the premier tidal stream site in the world and engineering developments are progressing rapidly. Therefore understanding and minimising impacts is vital to ensure the successful development of this nascent industry. Here a 3 dimensional coupled hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical model is used to investigate the impact on sediment transport and morphodynamics of tidal stream arrays. The aim of the work presented here is twofold: firstly to provide prediction of the changes caused by multiple tidal stream turbine array developments to some of the unique sandy seabed environments in the Pentland Firth and secondly as a case study to determine the relationship between impacts of individual tidal stream farms and cumulative impacts of multiple farms. Due to connectivity in tidal flow it has been hypothesized that the cumulative impact of multiple arrays on sediment dynamics might be non-linear. This work suggests that, for the Pentland Firth, this is not the case: the cumulative impact of the 4 currently proposed arrays in the area is equal to the sum of the impacts of the individual arrays. Additionally, array implementation only has minimal effect on the baseline morphodynamics of the large sandbanks in the region, smaller more local sandbanks were not considered. These two results are extremely positive for tidal stream developers in the region since it removes the burden of assessing cumulative impact from individual developers and suggests that impacts to sub-sea morphodynamics is insignificant and hence is unlikely to be an impediment to development in the Pentland Firth with the currently proposed levels of extraction.

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  • Fairley, I. & Masters, I. & Karunarathna, H., 2015. "The cumulative impact of tidal stream turbine arrays on sediment transport in the Pentland Firth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 755-769.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:755-769
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.03.004
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    Cited by:

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    14. Soto-Rivas, Karina & Richter, David & Escauriaza, Cristian, 2022. "Flow effects of finite-sized tidal turbine arrays in the Chacao Channel, Southern Chile," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 637-647.
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    16. Deng, Guizhong & Zhang, Zhaoru & Li, Ye & Liu, Hailong & Xu, Wentao & Pan, Yulin, 2020. "Prospective of development of large-scale tidal current turbine array: An example numerical investigation of Zhejiang, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    17. Auguste, Christelle & Nader, Jean-Roch & Marsh, Philip & Penesis, Irene & Cossu, Remo, 2022. "Modelling the influence of Tidal Energy Converters on sediment dynamics in Banks Strait, Tasmania," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1105-1119.
    18. Goward Brown, Alice J. & Neill, Simon P. & Lewis, Matthew J., 2017. "Tidal energy extraction in three-dimensional ocean models," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 244-257.
    19. Shao, Zhuxiao & Gao, Huijun & Liang, Bingchen & Lee, Dongyoung, 2022. "Potential, trend and economic assessments of global wave power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1087-1102.
    20. de Fockert, Anton & Bijlsma, Arnout C. & O'Mahoney, Tom S.D. & Verbruggen, Wilbert & Scheijgrond, Peter C. & Wang, Zheng B., 2023. "Assessment of the impact of tidal power extraction from the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier through the evaluation of a pilot plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 109-120.
    21. Fairley, I. & Karunarathna, H. & Masters, I., 2018. "The influence of waves on morphodynamic impacts of energy extraction at a tidal stream turbine site in the Pentland Firth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 630-647.

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