Signature Projects are intended to bring focus to a selection of U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) projects. By designating a Signature Project, the project reports, datasets, and associated papers can be easily discoverable. By bringing together all aspects of a project, whether a completed legacy project or an ongoing investigation, the MRE community can be informed of what investigations have been undertaken, which have succeeded, what tools are available, and where gaps in information persist.
Resource Characterization
Project Purpose
Since 2016, the Resource Characterization project has been motivated by a recognition that detailed resource data is critical to the success of the marine energy industry. This Resource Characterization project also builds on earlier WPTO-funded resource characterization efforts published between 2011 and 2015. For more information on the work being done by individuals labs, check out NREL’s Characterization page, PNNL’s Characterization page, and Sandia’s Characterization page.
Project Description
Phase I of this project (2016–2018) collected and generated a large amount of resource data, developed high-resolution wave and tidal models, and developed a wave energy resource classification scheme. In Phase 2 of this project (2019–2022), the goal is to lower the cost of marine energy and accelerate marine energy technology development by refining, extending, and disseminating the data necessary for engineering robust and efficient marine energy devices and projects.
Project Methods
The project is organized around five primary activity areas: wave modelling and analysis, tidal current modelling and analysis, resource characterization and classification, resource measurement, and data dissemination. PNNL leads the modelling efforts, Sandia leads characterization and classification work, and NREL serves as the lead for resource measurements, data dissemination, and the overall project. All of these activities are conducted with careful attention to best practices and methods recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) Technical Committee (TC) 114. The project also has several public and private partners and holds quarterly calls with a steering committee of international experts and U.S. industry representatives to solicit guidance on key project decisions.
Key Findings/Applications
The data and tools generated by this project can be used for device design and optimal siting processes for technology developers, economic assessments for project developers, energy assessments (power supply and energy portfolio diversification) for regional planners and policy makers, operational reliability and economic assessments for utilities and investors, environmental impacts studies for regulatory agencies.
Wave Modelling and Analysis
- High-resolution wave models for all of the US coastal regions extending to the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (Allahdadi et al 2019, Wu et al. 2020, Yang et al. 2020, Garcia-Medina et al. 2021, Li et al. 2021). All hindcast data are in the process of being made publicly available on the Open Energy Data Initiative’s Cloud server. Data include six IEC parameters (significant wave height, mean wave energy period, omni-directional wave power, spectral width, maximum energy direction, directionality coefficient) and several other variables (mean peak wave period, mean zero-crossing period, mean absolute period) and extend 32 years (1979-2010) in 3-hour temporal resolution, with horizontal spatial resolution as fine as 200 m in shallow water.
Tidal Current Modelling and Analysis
- High-resolution tidal current models have been created for some of the nation’s largest tidal energy resource sites – Cook Inlet, Alaska; Puget Sound, Washington; and Western Passage, Maine (Wang and Yang 2020, Yang et al. 2020, Yang et al. 2021). Data generated from the tidal models include tidal water levels, three-dimensional tidal currents and tidal harmonic constituents for both tides and currents. In addition, modeling analysis is carried out to refine and improve methodologies for tidal current resource estimate in tidal channels and coastal bays.
Resource Characterization and Classification
- Developed high-fidelity methods for wave energy resource characterization (Ahn et al. 2020).
- Examined non-stationary trends in US wave energy resource (Ahn and Neary 2020).
- Developed methods for characterizing extreme wave conditions used for WEC design (e.g., the 50-year return period wave height) (Neary et al. 2020).
- Developed four classification systems, including resource classification systems (wave, tidal) and device classification systems (wave energy converters, tidal energy converters), as detailed in Neary et al. 2019.
- Presented classification systems to the IEC standards body committees for comment, both at the TC 114 International Plenary in the Netherlands in April 2019 and at national committees (e.g., US, UK) in 2019-2020.
Resource Measurement
- Wave measurement buoys have been strategically deployed to provide model validation data. All wave measurement data are publicly available from the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP). Wave measurement buoy locations include Lakeside, Oregon (decommissioned); Reedsport, Oregon (decommissioned); Fort Bragg, California (decommissioned); and Kodiak, Alaska (active).
- Tidal current resource measurements have been collected in Admiralty Inlet, Washington and Western Passage, Maine.
Data Dissemination
- In addition to the data available on Open Energy Data Initiative’s Cloud server and the Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository (MHKDR), the MHK Atlas presents MHK resource data in an interactive mapping tool.