A comparative study of methods for calculating the exploitable amount of tidal energy

Abstract

As a kind of clean renewable energy, tidal current energy has a great prospect of development and utilization in China's coastal areas, but there is no unified method for evaluating tidal current energy resources. This paper firstly simulates the tidal field in Zhoushan sea based on a numerical model, analyzes the overall characteristics of tidal currents in the sea, selects the Guimen Channel with high energy density, and compares four tidal energy calculation methods, namely the Farm method, the Flux method, the Garrett method and the Lidan method, which are widely used at present, to evaluate the exploitable amount of tidal energy in the region. The results show that the results of Farm, Flux, and Lidan methods are in good agreement, while the conclusions of the Garrett method are more different from these three methods, and the differences may be related to their assumptions. The annual average current velocity in this area can reach 1.97 m/s, and the highest current velocity exceeds 4.5 m/s. The average water depth is 40 m. The exploitable tidal current energy is above 40 MW, which is suitable for large-scale installation and provides some reference for the local tidal current energy development and utilization.