State-of-the-art review and future trends of development of tidal current energy converters in China

Abstract

Owing to its high resource predictability and power density, tidal current energy has garnered extensive attention worldwide, from both academia and industry, in the past decade. Currently, China is also accelerating the development of tidal current energy because of the abundant tidal current resources along the country's highly populated southeast coasts. The objective of this development is to meet the increasing power demands for coastal cities, islands, and various maritime applications. The tidal current energy conversion systems in China have undergone rapid technological advancements in the past ten years, particularly after the deployment of several large-sized tidal current turbines. Although several review papers have covered the evolution of tidal current energy converters (TCECs) in China since the 1980s, a comprehensive update of the past decade has not been systematically reported, which might be of significant interest to researchers, developers, and investors worldwide. In this paper, we present the state-of-the-art TCEC technological developments in China in terms of scale, efficiency, reliability, and other innovations. Their technology readiness level and problems are also discussed. It is found that TCEC development in China has been diverging toward two different directions: large-sized turbines for grid connection and small-scale turbines for diverse applications in marine environments. Finally, we present the current challenges and future trends of TCEC advancement in China.