Abstract: Harnessing and harvesting of sustainable energy resources is a cornerstone endeavour of the 21st Century. These actions are necessary to address climate change issues and enhance national energy supply security. Multiple technologies for the exploitation of tidal current energy are at various stages of the Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment pathway. These technologies are designed to capture kinetic energy in vigorous tidal flow regimes and convert this energy into electricity.
Accurate monitoring and assessment of performance characteristics of the devices under development is necessary to assist in design progression and proving, and ultimately to enable differentiation between the various devices developed by proponents.
This paper details the development and continuing evolution of one approach to the equitable performance assessment of grid-connected tidal current energy technologies.
