An Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Energy's Marine and Hydrokinetic Resource Assessments (2013) / Chapter Skim
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7 The Practical Marine and Hydrokinetic Resource Base
7 The Practical Marine and Hydrokinetic Resource Base
Pages 76-90
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From page 76... ...
None of the assessment groups were tasked directly with evaluating what the committee considers to be the practical resource -- the portion of the resource that is available for development after taking into account technical capabilities; social, economic, regulatory, and environmental considerations; and alterations to the physical environment. This is an issue of concern to the committee because these filters will be critical for determining the MHK resource that could practically be expected to provide energy for generating electricity, as well as for determining where future investments in MHK energy might be best located.
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From page 77... ...
Similarly, extracting more than a small fraction of the theoretical 9 GW resource from Cook Inlet's large tidal range and associated currents would probably require construction of a continuous fence of turbines that would effectively act as a barrage, which could potentially be unacceptable for societal and environmental reasons. Determining the practical MHK resource will require a comprehensive evaluation of how the resource interacts with social, environmental, regulatory, and economic filters.
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From page 78... ...
In addition, there are several new or growing human use categories, such as aquaculture; maritime heritage and archeology; and, of course, offshore renewable energy. Each of the uses listed above comes with its own set of environ mental, regulatory, social, and economic filters that have potential to reduce MHK's potential applicability at any given location.
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From page 79... ...
There are many other potential impacts related to acoustic, chemical, temperature, and electromagnetic changes or emissions due to MHK devices. However, it is also important to note that environmental impacts related to MHK are likely to be mostly localized (within k ilometers of the devices)
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From page 80... ...
, because NOAA (Department of Commerce) was given responsibility for licensing commercial OTEC facilities under the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act of 1980.
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From page 81... ...
Social and Economic Filters Spatial Conflicts Oceans and rivers are crucial resources for local communities, states and regions, and the country as a whole. Navigable waters are a resource for a number of sectors, and coordinating their use is an immense logistical challenge that will definitely impact MHK energy development.
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From page 82... ...
Harsh environmental conditions, unstable load flows, variable energy output, lack of electrical demand near the generation, the length of cable from a device or array to a shore erminus, t potential environmental impacts from the cable, permitting issues, and the need for specialized equipment for reactive power control are all challenging. However, the penetration of gigawatt-scale wind energy into the U.S.
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From page 83... ...
7-1 FIGURE 7-1 Basic structure of the electric system showing an MHK resource as the electricity generator connecting to the transmission system. For small-scale applications (<10 MW)
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From page 84... ...
Another issue is device and equipment reliability, discussed in the following section. An important consideration for evaluating the practical MHK resource base is how the location of a potential MHK resource compares with the location of load centers that might utilize the resource.
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From page 85... ...
For example, stronger-than-expected currents in New York's East River caused Verdant Power's turbine blades to fail only one day after installation in 2006 and led to redesigned blades. Using more rugged design criteria for future MHK devices may drive up the product cost due to exotic materials or increased engineering costs and could also delay deployment until more robust designs are available in the market, all of which may play a role in the cost of electricity generated from an MHK device in the near term.
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From page 86... ...
. MHK theoretical and technical resource assessments can help initiate a planning process that explicitly addresses and reduces spatial conflicts with other users.
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From page 87... ...
have rarely been used in ocean planning efforts to date, there are many decision support tools that can help assess trade-offs. They can be analyzed with
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From page 88... ...
Another set of decision support tools used in alternative energy development are the Prospector tools developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (e.g., Solar Prospector, Geothermal Prospector)
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From page 89... ...
Incorporating these databases into the variety of existing spatial decision support tools allows the MHK resource to be viewed in the context of other economic and ecological uses, such as shipping channels or areas associated with critical habitats. This information would be helpful to prioritize research that enables multiple uses and mitigates potential user conflicts, although it would not be sufficient for quantifying the practical resource base.
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From page 90... ...
An accessible spatial database of theoretical and technological MHK resources would provide substantial information on high-priority sites.
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