TY - JOUR

T1 - Tidal Range Resource of Australia

AU - Neill, Simon

AU - Hemer, Mark

AU - Robins, Peter

AU - Griffiths, Alana

AU - Furnish, Aaron

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - In some shelf sea regions of the world, the tidal range is sufficient to convert the potential energy of the tides into electricity via tidal range power plants. As an island continent, Australia is one such region - a previous study estimated that Australia hosts up to 30% of the world's resource. Here, we make use of a gridded tidal dataset (TPXO9) to characterize the tidal range resource of Australia. We examine the theoretical resource, and we also investigate the technical resource through 0D modelling with tidal range power plant operation. We find that the tidal range resource of Australia is 2004 TWh/yr, or about 22% of the global resource. This exceeds Australia's total energy consumption for 2018/2019 (1721 TWh/yr), suggesting tidal range energy has the potential to make a substantial contribution to Australia's electricity generation (265 TWh/yr in 2018/2019). Due to local resonance, the resource is concentrated in the sparsely populated Kimberley region of Western Australia. However, the tidal range resource in this region presents a renewable energy export opportunity, connecting to markets in southeast Asia. Combining the electricity from two complementary sites, with some degree of optimization tidal range schemes in this region can produce electricity for 45% of the year.

AB - In some shelf sea regions of the world, the tidal range is sufficient to convert the potential energy of the tides into electricity via tidal range power plants. As an island continent, Australia is one such region - a previous study estimated that Australia hosts up to 30% of the world's resource. Here, we make use of a gridded tidal dataset (TPXO9) to characterize the tidal range resource of Australia. We examine the theoretical resource, and we also investigate the technical resource through 0D modelling with tidal range power plant operation. We find that the tidal range resource of Australia is 2004 TWh/yr, or about 22% of the global resource. This exceeds Australia's total energy consumption for 2018/2019 (1721 TWh/yr), suggesting tidal range energy has the potential to make a substantial contribution to Australia's electricity generation (265 TWh/yr in 2018/2019). Due to local resonance, the resource is concentrated in the sparsely populated Kimberley region of Western Australia. However, the tidal range resource in this region presents a renewable energy export opportunity, connecting to markets in southeast Asia. Combining the electricity from two complementary sites, with some degree of optimization tidal range schemes in this region can produce electricity for 45% of the year.

U2 - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.02.035

DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.02.035

M3 - Article

VL - 170

SP - 683

EP - 692

JO - Renewable Energy

JF - Renewable Energy

SN - 0960-1481

ER -