Abstract
Spatial resource gradients have been observed at a number of proposed tidal energy sites. However, these gradients are typically quantified using the first or second moments (i.e., mean or standard deviation) of time series which obscures information about the co‐temporal amplitude and phase variation. These co‐temporal variations have a number of interesting implications for power production from arrays of tidal turbines. Here, co‐temporal time series data from several locations in northern Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound, Washington (USA) are used to investigate phase variations in kinetic power density over length scales of less than 5 km. Results demonstrate that large phase variations in kinetic power density are routinely produced by phase variations in the harmonic and aharmonic currents. However, exploiting these phase variations in a way that reduces power generation intermittency requires that locations which are out of phase have similar mean kinetic power density and intermittency. Further investigation of local phasing at tidal energy sites of commercial interest is recommended.