Assessment of Tidal Power Potential and Cross-section Channel

Stability: application to Faro-Olho Inlet, Southern Portugal

Pacheco, A.1, Ferreira, .1, Iglesias, G.2
1
CIMA/Universidade do Algarve, Edifcio 7, Campus de Gambelas 8005-139 Faro, Portugal, ampacheco@ualg.pt,
oferreir@ualg.pt; 2Grupo de Ingeniera de Costal y del Agua, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, EPS, Campus
Universitario s/n 27002 Lugo, Spain, gregorio.iglesias@usc.es

Tidal currents offer considerable potential for the generation of renewable energy. A study to assess the
potential of a site for tidal energy extraction needs to be effective on providing information on the precise
distribution of the tidal stream energy (Carballo et al., 2009) as well as detailed assessment of the sites
potentially viable for installing Tidal Stream Turbines, i.e., TSTs (Xia et al., 2010a,b). The kinetic energy
flux through a channel cross-section provides an indication of the available power. However, it must be
considered that the cross-section of a real channel varies along its length, and vertically as result of the
tide. The value of a tidal power potential prediction with a channel constant cross-section lacks accuracy,
since it does not takes into account the spatial and temporal variability of the flow along and across the
channel.
The Faro-Olho Inlet (Ria Formosa, Southern Portugal, Fig. 1) represents an attractive case study for
implementing TSTs because the inlet has strong currents and therefore potential for energy extraction,
with average values over 2 m/s and 1.5 m/s during ebbing and flooding, respectively (IH, 2000; Salles,
2001, Pacheco et al. 2010). The inlet is also located between two barrier islands and is most likely that
TST prototype devices will initially be developed in island or coastal communities which are isolated
from National grid systems, where they offer a cost-effective alternative. But, most important of all, there
is availability of data and knowledge on both morphodynamics (i.e. channel bathymetries and sediment
properties) and hydrodynamics (i.e. tidal levels, asymmetry and current velocities), which able the
analysis of channel geophysical stability, as allows to estimate the tidal energy potential along the
channel as result of cross-section variability.
In this paper: (i) an analytical hydrodynamic method to determine tidal energy potential at the minimum
cross-section area is presented; (ii) a morphodynamic evaluation of inlet channel stability at different
locations across the channel is performed; and (iii) the power output that will be obtained with a TST of
given characteristics is calculated. To accomplish these purposes, well established inlet hydraulic
formulae (Escoffier, 1977), allowed to derive a method to compute the tidal stream potential at the
smallest cross-section, using the complete range of tidal amplitude through a year and therefore
accounting with vertical cross-section variations as result of the tide. This was performed by interpolating
velocity and discharge values through the tidal cycle for each second, allowing to specific determine each
value for any given time and tidal range. The method takes into account the velocity profile, i.e. the three
dimensional nature of the flow. Moreover, it considers the variation of the tide throughout the year its
diurnal inequality, spring-neap cycle, and the effects of the varying lunar and solar declination.The results
were calibrated by comparing the obtained values with field data collected with an Acoustic Doppler
Current Meter (ADCP), obtained during spring and neap tides (cf. Pacheco et al., 2010).
The morphodynamic evaluation is focused on evaluating overall channel stability using historical
bathymetric data, and typical hydraulic indicators. The channel was divided in 105 sections with the same
interval and cross-section evolution and stability determined for those spatial limits, with 25 of these
being considered representative of the minimum cross-section, i.e., the area of flow confinement at the
jetties. The other 80 values were equally divided in 10 sub-sections (sub-section A-H) and a mean crosssection value determined for each 8 cross-sectional values (representative of ~180 m of the channel
thalweg). Since it is not feasible to install a TST device in the inlet gorge, a first assessment of a potential
site is to evaluate the cross-sectional stability of other channel sections, by analysing accretion/erosion
tendencies. To achieve this goal, digital terrain models of Faro-Olho Inlet were obtained from 14
bathymetric charts from the period 1948 to 2006. This allowed to evaluate overall channel stability by
determining the evolution of key hydraulic parameters such as average channel cross-section (Aavg), mean
channel depth (hc), channel length (Lc) and hydraulic radius (RH), as well as to determine cross-section
evolution for each individualised sub-section. These parameters were determined following the
recommendations of the Coastal Engineering Manual (Seabergh et al., 2006). The stability analysis of
each section allows to determine potential areas for installation of TST. Using the yearly tidal stream
power potential table, and assuming fluid continuity, power stream power potential can be obtained for
one of the individualised sections. Knowing cross-sectional shape and discharge, and having in

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consideration the possible locations of TST devices from cross-sectional stability and side scan sonar
data, an exact TST location was chosen.

Figure 1. (A) Ria Formosa Multi-Inlet System; (B) Oblique

photography of Faro-Olho Inlet; (C) 2006 Inlet Survey (XY
Co-ordinates referred to Datum 73, Portuguese Militar Grid,
and Z to the Mean Sea Level, MSL)

Figure 2. Location of channel profiles measured and

analyzed

The individualised sub-section for potential installation of a TST was sub-divided into smaller sub areas.
Each one these sub-areas is representative of the potential location of a TST device. To investigate the
flow structure at the chosen sub-section, two new ADCP tidal cycles were performed at spring/neap tides.
By dividing the sub-section on different areas and assuming a trapezoidal integral for computing the total
discharge, the velocity percentages of the flow passing through TST potential site was determined and
3
1
extrapolated to yield annual estimates by means of: PT = K AT Vcs , where PT is the power extracted
2
for each tidal cycle by the chosen turbine, K a power coefficient, a measurement of the fluid dynamic
efficiency of the turbine and differs depending on manufacturer, AT the area of the turbine, which can be
1
taken as swept area of the rotor ( = D 2 , where D is the diameter), and Vcs is the distribution of
2
velocities onto the individualised sub-area along each tidal cycle.

References
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