Advanced Adaptive Torque Control of Hydrokinetic Turbines

Diversifying US energy production to include renewables has been a popular topic of discussion in recent years. In-stream hydrokinetic energy, electricity production from moving currents without the use of dams, has potential for significant power production with technically feasible US electricity production estimated at 14 GW from rivers, 50 GW from tides, and 19 GW from ocean currents; which is equivalent to approximately 17% of 2011 US power production. This work focuses on improving the power production from in-stream hydrokinetic turbines using adaptive torque control, and quantifies increased energy production by comparisons with standard fixed-gain torque control. This research uses numerical modeling to acquire power production estimates under simulated conditions. With these results we can quantify potential energy gains for three representative in-stream hydrokinetic rotor designs.