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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Solar Energy
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1434356
This article is part of the Research Topic Enhancing the Survivability of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems View all 6 articles
Modelling the hydrodynamic wake of an offshore solar array in OpenFOAM
Provisionally accepted- Deltares (Netherlands), Delft, Netherlands
Offshore solar is seen as a promising technology for renewable energy generation. It can be particularly valuable when co-located within offshore wind farms, as these forms of energy generation are complementary. However, the environmental impact of offshore solar is not fully understood yet, and obtaining a better understanding of possible impact is essential before this technology is applied at a large scale. An important aspect which is still unclear is how offshore solar affects the local hydrodynamics in the marine environment.This article describes the hydrodynamic wake generated by an offshore solar array, arising from the interaction between the array and a tidal current. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling approach was used, applying numerical Large Eddy Simulations (LES) in OpenFOAM.The simulations are verified with the numerical model TUDFLOW3D. The study quantifies the wake dimensions and put them in perspective to the array size, orientation, and tidal current magnitude.The investigation reveals that wake width depends on array size and array orientation. When the array is aligned with the current, wake width is relatively confined and does not depend on the array size. When rotated, the wake width experiences exponential growth, becoming approximately 30% wider than the array width. Wake length is influenced by factors such as horizontal array dimensions and current magnitude. The gaps in between the floaters decrease this dependency. Similarly, the wake depth showed similar dependencies, except for the current magnitude, and only affects the upper meters of the water column. Beneath the array, flow shedding effects occur, affecting a larger part of the water column than the wake. Flow shedding depends on floater size, gaps, and orientation
Keywords: hydrodynamic wake, current interaction, Offshore solar, Offshore renewable energy, numerical modelling, Large eddy simulations, OpenFOAM Frontiers
Received: 17 May 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Van Der Eijk, Plenker, Hendriks and de Wit. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Martin Van Der Eijk, Deltares (Netherlands), Delft, Netherlands
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