Tidal Energy Resource and Turbulence Characterization at the Atlantic Marine Energy Center Tidal Energy Test Site at Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, NH

A Tidal Energy Test Site has been developed by the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC) in an energetic tidal estuary on the East Coast to conduct research and help progress tidal energy conversion towards commercial feasibility. The aim of this work is to accurately assess the tidal energy resource at the test site, including the effect of turbulence on the total available energy. The mean energy density will be derived from the ensembled-averaged velocity measurements from two Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) located about 3 turbine diameters up- and downstream of the Energy Extraction Plane (EEP). The turbulence characteristics of the flow will be measured using three Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADVs). The ADVs will be deployed evenly spaced in the cross-stream direction near the EEP and be used to assess non-uniformities across the EEP. ADVs can measure instantaneous velocity with sufficiently high sampling rates to resolve the relevant timescales of the turbulent flow that contribute to tidal energy conversion. The measurements are being conducted in preparation for the deployment of an instrumented 2.5 m diameter reference model turbine.