Author(s): Reza Ahmadian, Roger Falconer, Bettina Bockelmann-Evans
Linked Author(s): Reza Ahmadian
Keywords: Marine renewable energy, very low head turbine modelling, Severn barrage, tidal lagoons, coastal flooding.
Abstract: There is a desire to increase utilisation of renewable energy across the globe considering the impacts associated with fossil fuels and growing demand for electricity due to need to changes in technology and growing global population. Amongst various type of renewable energy, marine renewable energy and particularly tidal range has the advantage of being predictable. This predictability would be of great interest considering the less predictable nature of other sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and increasing utilisation of less flexible schemes, such as nuclear power stations. Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel located in the South-West of Britain, with the second tidal range in the world, have excellent potential for marine renewable energy and therefore have attracted a wide range of proposals to build marine renewable energy schemes (Kadiri et al. , 2012). A barrage across the estuary to impound the water at high or low water and then generate electricity by realising the impounded water through the turbines has been the oldest option and have the potential to generate up to 5% of UK electricity demand. However, there are several ecological and environmental concerns with such a scheme. Recent studies have shown that implementation of a two-way generation scheme would cause less changes to the existing condition and therefore could reduce the impacts of such a scheme (Ahmadian et al. , 2014a). This study investigates the hydro-environmental impact of a Severn Barrage using Very Low Head (VLH) turbines (DECC, 2010a). The study implement hydro-environmental models set up for the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel and the potential impacts of the scheme will be investigated by comparing the pre- and post-barrage. The model predictions show less significant changes in the currents to the existing condition while the barrage could be implemented as a flood alleviation structure
Year: 2017