Publications

Dashboard for Marine Energy Site Assessment and Monitoring

By Christopher Flanary, Ph.D., Consultant

Craig A. Jones, Ph.D., Managing Principal, Business Director - Marine, Coastal, Climate, and Technology Services

Timothy R. Nelson, Ph.D., Senior Scientist

Abstract

The marine energy (ME) industry presently relies upon fragmented site assessment solutions that require high resource expenditure for deployment at each site and do not leverage the wealth of readily available tools and information. A wave energy resource assessment dashboard, currently in development, will substantially improve siting, permitting, operations, and maintenance of ME projects by providing an integrated solution that is a one-stop-shop for a developer’s needs. The Site Energy Assessment and MOnitoring Dashboard (SEAMOD) will be of commercial interest to anyone seeking to deploy an ME project and is easily expandable to include tidal and wind energy site assessments. The integrated dashboard is being developed using state-of-the-art database and cloud computing methods and data-assimilative modeling tools that can be coupled with low-cost, rapidly deployable wave buoys and environmental sensing hardware. The combined software and hardware dashboard will reduce wave energy site characterization and wave climate monitoring costs by more than 60 percent and provide assessments that meet international industry standards. The final integrated dashboard provides a low-cost solution that delivers comprehensive, scalable, industry-standard energy resource assessments and offshore characterizations required for successful ME development. The integrated dashboard offers visibility of the most recent site modeling, measurements, and historical data. The application and integration of consensus-based standards for wave energy resource assessment, as determined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), are crucial for the impact and value of SEAMOD. SEAMOD includes monthly, seasonal, and yearly statistics, as well as the total 30-year record, offering temporal resolution of the IEC parameters to aid potential developers in determining the available wave energy resources in their area of interest.To realize a thriving global ME industry, the physical environment at a potential deployment site must be understood, not only for resource characterization, but also for optimization of device and power conversion performance. SEAMOD directly addresses these needs with a commercially marketable product. SEAMOD is a low-cost solution that provides comprehensive ME resource assessments, baseline environmental monitoring, and offshore characterizations required for successful ME development.

Paper presented at the Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Texas, USA, May 2024.

Paper Number: OTC-35141-MS

https://doi.org/10.4043/35141-MS

Published: April 29 2024

This paper was co-authored by C. Flanary; C. Jones; A. Ellenson; T. Nelson

Published

July 1, 2024

About The Author

Dr. Christopher Flanary is a physical oceanographer with more than 10 years of experience performing site assessments for government agencies... Full bio

About The Author

Dr. Craig Jones serves as the managing principal for Integral’s Marine, Coastal, Climate, and Technology Services. With more than two... Full bio

About The Author

Dr. Timothy Nelson is an oceanographer with 10 years of experience researching hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, and coastal geomorphology. His efforts... Full bio