TeraWatt Objectives
The overarching objective of the research is to generate a “toolbox” of methods – computer models, that can provide better understanding of, and be used to assess, what happens when wave and tidal energy devices extract this energy from the sea. The Pentland Firth and the waters around Orkney will be used to develop these models which will help to predict the physical and ecological consequences of wave and tidal energy extraction.
As part of the licensing arrangements for deploying wave and tidal energy devices, environmental effects in the immediate vicinity will be addressed by the Environmental Impact Assessment process that each developer must undertake. But it is essential that the regulatory authorities understand how a number of multi-site developments collectively impact on the marine environment over a wider region. At a regional scale, careful selection of sites may enable the optimum exploitation of available wave and tidal energy whilst minimising any environmental impacts to an acceptable level.
The objectives of TeraWatt are fourfold: First, to minimise delays in array licensing by providing answers to 3 specific questions faced by the regulatory authorities, responsible for the licensing of wave and tidal developments; and second, to collect the methodologies used to answer these into a methods toolbox that can be more widely utilised for such assessments, and in which the marine developer community has confidence.
(1) What is the best way to assess the wave and tidal resource and the effects of energy extraction on it?
OBJECTIVES: Produce methodologies that will increase our knowledge and confidence in coupled hydrodynamic models of wave and tidal systems using illustrations validated by field data; Produce methodologies for the incorporation of multi-site wave and tidal arrays within these to illustrate changes in the resource in the near and far field from energy extraction ; Produce methodologies for the determination of resource potential under different scenarios of exploitation; Determine extreme conditions for the parameterisation of modelling of physical and environmental consequences. (These are mapped as deliverables from workstream 2)
(2) What are the physical consequences of wave and tidal energy extraction?
OBJECTIVES: Using outputs from workstream 2 produce methodologies for linking these to coupled models of sediment transport, again with illustrations validated by available field data; Demonstrate changes in sediment transport patterns occurring as a consequence of energy extraction and examine effects on seabed morphology; Determine the effect of energy extraction on suspended sediments; Determine effects on the shoreline and coastline using also additionally the extreme wave distributions from workstream 2. (These are mapped as deliverables in workstream 3)
(3) What are the ecological consequences of wave and tidal energy extraction?
OBJECTIVES: Produce methodologies for statistical models that will enable benthic biotope characterisation, using given physical parameters and outputs from workstreams 2 and 3, illustrating these and validating with field data. Demonstrate what changes in these may occur as a consequence of various energy extraction scenarios, and evaluate other potential ecological effects. (These are mapped as deliverables from workstream 3)
(4) The assembly of all appropriate methods, their review, and synthesis in a standardised methods toolbox.
OBJECTIVES: Encapsulate all methods used in the research, with illustrations of their use, into a methods toolbox, including in addition to the outputs of the 3 workstreams methodologies for parameterisation of inputs to shelf wide models from the regional scale models used.
The participation of Marine Scotland Science in TeraWatt, as the organisation responsible for providing scientific advice to the regulatory authority responsible for licensing wave and tidal array developments, is integral to the work of the consortium, as is a range of developer engagement activities planned, with the objective of building a broad consensus among the regulatory authorities and marine renewable developers on the methodologies produced.
As part of the licensing arrangements for deploying wave and tidal energy devices, environmental effects in the immediate vicinity will be addressed by the Environmental Impact Assessment process that each developer must undertake. But it is essential that the regulatory authorities understand how a number of multi-site developments collectively impact on the marine environment over a wider region. At a regional scale, careful selection of sites may enable the optimum exploitation of available wave and tidal energy whilst minimising any environmental impacts to an acceptable level.
The objectives of TeraWatt are fourfold: First, to minimise delays in array licensing by providing answers to 3 specific questions faced by the regulatory authorities, responsible for the licensing of wave and tidal developments; and second, to collect the methodologies used to answer these into a methods toolbox that can be more widely utilised for such assessments, and in which the marine developer community has confidence.
(1) What is the best way to assess the wave and tidal resource and the effects of energy extraction on it?
OBJECTIVES: Produce methodologies that will increase our knowledge and confidence in coupled hydrodynamic models of wave and tidal systems using illustrations validated by field data; Produce methodologies for the incorporation of multi-site wave and tidal arrays within these to illustrate changes in the resource in the near and far field from energy extraction ; Produce methodologies for the determination of resource potential under different scenarios of exploitation; Determine extreme conditions for the parameterisation of modelling of physical and environmental consequences. (These are mapped as deliverables from workstream 2)
(2) What are the physical consequences of wave and tidal energy extraction?
OBJECTIVES: Using outputs from workstream 2 produce methodologies for linking these to coupled models of sediment transport, again with illustrations validated by available field data; Demonstrate changes in sediment transport patterns occurring as a consequence of energy extraction and examine effects on seabed morphology; Determine the effect of energy extraction on suspended sediments; Determine effects on the shoreline and coastline using also additionally the extreme wave distributions from workstream 2. (These are mapped as deliverables in workstream 3)
(3) What are the ecological consequences of wave and tidal energy extraction?
OBJECTIVES: Produce methodologies for statistical models that will enable benthic biotope characterisation, using given physical parameters and outputs from workstreams 2 and 3, illustrating these and validating with field data. Demonstrate what changes in these may occur as a consequence of various energy extraction scenarios, and evaluate other potential ecological effects. (These are mapped as deliverables from workstream 3)
(4) The assembly of all appropriate methods, their review, and synthesis in a standardised methods toolbox.
OBJECTIVES: Encapsulate all methods used in the research, with illustrations of their use, into a methods toolbox, including in addition to the outputs of the 3 workstreams methodologies for parameterisation of inputs to shelf wide models from the regional scale models used.
The participation of Marine Scotland Science in TeraWatt, as the organisation responsible for providing scientific advice to the regulatory authority responsible for licensing wave and tidal array developments, is integral to the work of the consortium, as is a range of developer engagement activities planned, with the objective of building a broad consensus among the regulatory authorities and marine renewable developers on the methodologies produced.