Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline
Increasing energy consumption and depleting reserves of fossil fuels have resulted in growing interest in alternative renewable energy from the ocean. Ocean currents are an alternative source of clean energy due to their inherent reliability, persistence and sustainability. General ocean circulation...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1093367 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1093367 https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 |
id |
ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1093367 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1093367 2023-07-30T04:05:36+02:00 Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline Haas, Kevin 2016-06-20 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1093367 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1093367 https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1093367 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1093367 https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 doi:10.2172/1093367 16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER 2016 ftosti https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 2023-07-11T08:53:36Z Increasing energy consumption and depleting reserves of fossil fuels have resulted in growing interest in alternative renewable energy from the ocean. Ocean currents are an alternative source of clean energy due to their inherent reliability, persistence and sustainability. General ocean circulations exist in the form of large rotating ocean gyres, and feature extremely rapid current flow in the western boundaries due to the Coriolis Effect. The Gulf Stream system is formed by the western boundary current of the North Atlantic Ocean that flows along the east coastline of the United States, and therefore is of particular interest as a potential energy resource for the United States. This project created a national database of ocean current energy resources to help advance awareness and market penetration in ocean current energy resource assessment. The database, consisting of joint velocity magnitude and direction probability histograms, was created from data created by seven years of numerical model simulations. The accuracy of the database was evaluated by ORNL?s independent validation effort documented in a separate report. Estimates of the total theoretical power resource contained in the ocean currents were calculated utilizing two separate approaches. Firstly, the theoretical energy balance in the Gulf Stream system was examined using the two-dimensional ocean circulation equations based on the assumptions of the Stommel model for subtropical gyres with the quasi-geostrophic balance between pressure gradient, Coriolis force, wind stress and friction driving the circulation. Parameters including water depth, natural dissipation rate and wind stress are calibrated in the model so that the model can reproduce reasonable flow properties including volume flux and energy flux. To represent flow dissipation due to turbines additional turbine drag coefficient is formulated and included in the model. Secondly, to determine the reasonableness of the total power estimates from the Stommel model and to help determine ... Other/Unknown Material North Atlantic SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER |
spellingShingle |
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER Haas, Kevin Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
topic_facet |
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER |
description |
Increasing energy consumption and depleting reserves of fossil fuels have resulted in growing interest in alternative renewable energy from the ocean. Ocean currents are an alternative source of clean energy due to their inherent reliability, persistence and sustainability. General ocean circulations exist in the form of large rotating ocean gyres, and feature extremely rapid current flow in the western boundaries due to the Coriolis Effect. The Gulf Stream system is formed by the western boundary current of the North Atlantic Ocean that flows along the east coastline of the United States, and therefore is of particular interest as a potential energy resource for the United States. This project created a national database of ocean current energy resources to help advance awareness and market penetration in ocean current energy resource assessment. The database, consisting of joint velocity magnitude and direction probability histograms, was created from data created by seven years of numerical model simulations. The accuracy of the database was evaluated by ORNL?s independent validation effort documented in a separate report. Estimates of the total theoretical power resource contained in the ocean currents were calculated utilizing two separate approaches. Firstly, the theoretical energy balance in the Gulf Stream system was examined using the two-dimensional ocean circulation equations based on the assumptions of the Stommel model for subtropical gyres with the quasi-geostrophic balance between pressure gradient, Coriolis force, wind stress and friction driving the circulation. Parameters including water depth, natural dissipation rate and wind stress are calibrated in the model so that the model can reproduce reasonable flow properties including volume flux and energy flux. To represent flow dissipation due to turbines additional turbine drag coefficient is formulated and included in the model. Secondly, to determine the reasonableness of the total power estimates from the Stommel model and to help determine ... |
author |
Haas, Kevin |
author_facet |
Haas, Kevin |
author_sort |
Haas, Kevin |
title |
Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
title_short |
Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
title_full |
Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
title_fullStr |
Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Ocean Currents along the United States Coastline |
title_sort |
assessment of energy production potential from ocean currents along the united states coastline |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1093367 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1093367 https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1093367 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1093367 https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 doi:10.2172/1093367 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2172/1093367 |
_version_ |
1772817631053611008 |