Tidal resource extraction in the Pentland Firth, UK: potential impacts on flow regime and sediment transport in the Inner Sound of Stroma
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Large-scale extraction of power from tidal streams within the Pentland Firth is expected to be underway in the near future. The Inner Sound of Stroma in particular has attracted significant commercial interest. To understand potential environmental impacts of the installation of a tidal turbine array a case study based upon the Inner Sound is considered. A numerical computational fluid dynamics model, Fluidity, is used to conduct a series of depth-averaged simulations to investigate velocity and bed shear stress changes due to the presence of idealised tidal turbine arrays. The number of turbines is increased from zero to 400. It is found that arrays in excess of 85 turbines have the potential to affect bed shear stress distributions in such a way that the most favourable sites for sediment accumulation migrate from the edges of the Inner Sound towards its centre. Deposits of fine gravel and coarse sand are indicated to occur within arrays of greater than 240 turbines with removal of existing deposits in the shallower channel margins also possible. The effects of the turbine array may be seen several kilometres from the site which has implications not only on sediment accumulation, but also on the benthic fauna.
Date Issued
2015-04-01
Date Acceptance
2014-11-22
Citation
Renewable Energy, 2015, 76 (1), pp.596-607
ISSN
0960-1481
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
596
End Page
607
Journal / Book Title
Renewable Energy
Volume
76
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant Number
EP/J010065/1
EP/M011054/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Energy & Fuels
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Tidal energy
Modelling
Pentland Firth
Finite element
FINITE-ELEMENT PAIR
SEAWAY
OPTIMIZATION
ADAPTIVITY
DYNAMICS
PATTERNS
TURBINE
FUNDY
MODEL
TIDES
Energy
0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2014-12-10