Abstract
Korea is a very well-known country for having abundant tidal current energy resources. There are many attractive coastal areas for the tidal current power that have very strong currents due to the high tidal range and the acceleration through the narrow channels between islands in the west and south coasts of the Korean peninsula. Recently, the Korean government announced a plan that aims to increase the portion of electricity generated from renewable energy to 20% by 2030. Korea has abundant tidal current energy resources; however, as reliable resource assessment results of tidal current energy are not sufficient, the portion of tidal current power is very small in the plan. Therefore, a reliable resource assessment should be conducted in order to provide a basis for the development plan. This paper describes the resource assessment of tidal current energy in Korea based on the observational data provided by KHOA (Korean Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency) and numerical simulation of water circulation. As the observational data were unable to present the detailed distribution of the complicated tidal current between islands, numerical simulation of water circulation was used to describe the detailed distribution of tidal current in Incheon-Gyeonggi and Jeollanam-do, where the tidal energy potentials are abundant. The west and south coastal areas of Korea were divided into seven regions according to the administrative district, and the theoretical tidal current potential was calculated using average power intercepted. The results of this research can provide the insight of the tidal current energy development plan in Korea.
Highlights
Tidal energy is advantageous to grid management with high energy density, reliability, and predictability [1]
Numerical simulation results of a complex and accelerated tidal current in the channels between the islands where tidal energy potentials are abundant are accurate enough to be the basis of resource assessment of tidal current energy
The mean average power intercepted was estimated as 5.6 MW/km2 and theoretical tidal current potential was calculated as installed generating capacity of 430 GW and annual energy production of 3766 TWh/y
Summary
Tidal energy is advantageous to grid management with high energy density, reliability, and predictability [1]. Power extracted from tidal energy can be exactly estimated in advance, using harmonic analysis. The west coast of Korea, where tidal range is up to 10 m, has abundant tidal energy. Korea has approximately 3600 islands which form narrow channels between islands, where tidal current is concentrated and accelerated. The west and south coasts of Korea have many exploitable areas with strong tidal current. Several tidal farm development plans were announced in these areas
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