Author(s): Martin Wosnik; M. Robinson Swift; Kenneth Baldwin; Ryan Despins; Barbaros Celikkol
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The Center for Ocean Renewable Energy, University of New Hampshire (UNH-CORE), is developing infrastructure for demonstration and testing of tidal/hydrokinetic energy extraction devices at the General Sullivan Bridge in the Great Bay Estuary, NH. The U. S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently granted a preliminary permit for this site to UNH-CORE. The test site has tidal currents typically greater than 4 knots (2. 1) m/s, with maximum currents of 5 knots (2. 6 m/s). The infrastructure presently consists of a barge with a movable vertical deployment cage for cross-flow (vertical) axis turbines. A more versatile, larger test platform (60 ft x 30 ft, or 18 m x 9m) that can accommodate both in-stream axis turbines (up to 4 m diameter) and cross-flow axis turbines (up to 5 m in length and 2. 5 m in diameter) is presently being designed and tank tested. Resource assessments have been conducted with both bottom-deployed (long-term time series) and boat-mounted ADCPs (spatial structure). Measuring turbine efficiency throughout a tidal cycle requires real-time, continuous information about the tidal energy resource. The new test platform incorporates platform-mounted horizontal and vertical ADCPs both upstream and downstream of the turbine under test. The upstream, “cross-hair” pair of ADCPs provides data on the tidal energy resource while the downstream pair of ADCPs provides information on the turbine wake. Additional surface-deployed mobile ADCPs will obtain transects of the spatial structure of the tidal flow. Combined with a fully instrumented test stand, this new test platform contributes towards establishing a “calibrated” tidal energy test site. The proximity to the UNH Chase Ocean Engineering Laboratory, ease of access and low cost of deployment is expected to help reduce development lead times and lower the cost of tidal/hydrokinetic turbine technology demonstrations.
Year: 2010