Reference Model #1 – Tidal Energy: Resource

Reference Model #1 is a tidal turbine operating in a narrow, tidal channel. The site is a generalized version of Tacoma Narrows, Puget Sound, Washington. The resource is a mixed, mainly semidiurnal tidal regime with two ebbs and floods each day of unequal strength (i.e., a diurnal inequality in which a strong ebb/flood exchange is followed by a weak exchange). The diurnal inequalities provide extended windows of weak currents for device installation and maintenance activities relative to a purely semidiurnal tidal regime, though at the expense of reduced generation potential for equivalent peak currents.