How do multiple tidal energy sites interact and do any ecological impacts worsen?

Tidal energy is a natural resource that can deliver major benefits to the UK infrastructure as it strives to achieve its low-carbon goals. The UK coast offers geomorphological characteristics that amplify the available tidal energy resources, presenting sites with some of the most pronounced sustainable energy sources worldwide. However, estimates for the size of the tidal stream resource at sites depends on assumptions and interactions with other tidal energy sites.

This project will explore the uncertainty associated with hydrodynamic predictions and data inputs providing a route to extend this uncertainty to the ecological impacts expected (both negative and positive). These impacts will be investigated and quantified through the development and application of novel computational methods, including via "machine learning".

The project will build on the recent development of novel modelling frameworks (Thetis, https://thetisproject.org/) that stem from recent outputs by EPSRC council projects, focusing on blending hydrodynamics with ecological models. The project will link together multiple proposed tidal energy sites and types (stream, barrages, lagoons) to assess optimised environmental impact and energy extraction.