Journal of Marine Sciences ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3): 34-42.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2023.03.004

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Assessment of tidal current energy resources in the significant waterways of Zhoushan sea area

CHEN Chao1,2(), BAO Min1,2,*(), YE Qin2,3,4, YAN Yuhan5, CAO Zhenyi1,2, ZHANG Qianjiang1,2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Hangzhou 310012, China
    2. Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR, Hangzhou 310012, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Ocean Space Resource Management Technology, MNR, Hangzhou 310012, China
    4. Key Laboratory of Nearshore Engineering Environment and Ecological Security of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, China
    5. Zhejiang Institute of Hydraulics and Estuary, Hangzhou 310020, China
  • Received:2022-11-16 Revised:2023-02-27 Online:2023-09-15 Published:2023-10-24

Abstract:

Tidal current energy is the kinetic energy carried in the horizontal movement of tidal water, which has great development prospects. Accurate simulation and characterization of regional tidal currents can help to efficiently evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of tidal energy resources, which is the key to the development and utilization of tidal current energy resources. In this paper, a high-resolution numerical model of tidal currents is constructed by applying FVCOM ocean model in Zhoushan sea area where has rich tidal current energy, and the reliability of the model is confirmed by tidal level and current verification. According to the simulation results, six waterways with dense tidal current energy resources in the Zhoushan sea area were identified, among which the average energy density of Xihoumen waterway, Cezi waterway and Taohuagang waterway exceeds 2.0 kW/m2, and the maximum energy density exceeds 20 kW/m2, and the flow speed over 1.0 m/s of the whole month is more than 80%. During tidal current ebb and flow, the reflow is dominant, while the asymmetry and rotation of tidal current are low. The flow stability coefficient is more than 0.98, so it is more suitable for the development and utilization of tidal current energy than other three waterways. The best location for tidal current energy development in these three waterways was then determined by calculating the significant hours and available hours, and the corresponding exploitable tidal current energy resources were evaluated using the Farm method, which were 27.53 MW, 39.96 MW, and 130.26 MW, respectively.

Key words: FVCOM, Zhoushan, tidal current energy, Farm method

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