Marine Hydrokinetics

Challenges with Marine Hydrokinetics

Marine hydrokinetics (MHK) comprises a range of energy technologies for electricity generation from wave and tidal power. MHK installations can require large areas of ocean, which competes with other marine resources and can be detrimental to marine life and habitats. MHKs are often located at the mouths of ecologically-sensitive estuary systems. This can alter the hydrodynamics and salinity of the system and negatively impact animal and plant life.

Solutions Provided by EEMS

EEMS incorporates an MHK sub-model for simulation of placement and potential effects of installing and operating turbines and wave energy converters in rivers, tidal channels, ocean currents, and other waterbodies.

The EFDC+ code for this sub-model originally comes from Sandia National Laboratory’s modified Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (SNL-EFDC) (James, 2008).

The MHK sub-model is available in EFDC+ along with a GUI for model configuration in EE8.5. Although the GUI is not available in EE10.2 and EE10.2 it is under development for EE10.3.