The Goto Islands, in Japan, contain several parallel channels that are suitable for tidal energy development. An offshore energy test centre, similar to Scotland’s EMEC, is planned in the region. In summer 2016 I spent two months at Kyushu University in Japan, where I added tidal energy extraction to an existing FVCOM model of the Goto archipelago. In the first part of this talk I will explain how this was used to estimate the available resource, and to study the interactions between the channels as energy is removed – which turn out to be different to those seen in other multi-channel systems.
Regional-scale hydrodynamic modelling like this has become a commonplace tool in predicting both the tidal energy potential of sites, and the effects of removing that energy. Such models are used at increasingly high resolutions, but as the scale of a grid cell approaches the scale of a turbine, an error emerges which can cause a significant underestimate of the turbine’s thrust.
In the second part of this talk I will explain the source of this error, and relate the development and testing of a correction for it in the MIKE 3 modelling system.