Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation from an Array of Subsea Tidal Kite Prototypes
Journal article, 2020

Tidal current technologies have the potential to provide highly predictable energy, since tides are driven by lunar cycles. However, before implementing such technologies on a large scale, their environmental performance should be assessed. In this study, a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed on a 12 MW tidal energy converter array of Minesto Deep Green 500 (DG500) prototypes, closely following the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) standards, but including scenarios to cover various design possibilities. The global warming potential (GWP) of the prototype array was in the range of 18.4–26.3 gCO2-eq/kWhe. This is comparable with other renewable energy systems, such as wind power. Material production processes have the largest impact, but are largely offset by recycling at the end of life. Operation and maintenance processes, including the production of replacement parts, also provide major contributions to environmental impacts. Comparisons with other technologies are limited by the lack of a standardized way of performing LCA on offshore power generation technologies.

Author

Mohamad Kaddoura

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Johan Tivander

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Sverker Molander

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Energies

1996-1073 (ISSN) 19961073 (eISSN)

Vol. 13 2 456

Power Take-Off System for a Subsea Tidal Kite (PowerKite)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/654438), 2016-01-01 -- 2018-06-30.

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Subject Categories

Energy Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Energy Systems

Building Technologies

Areas of Advance

Energy

DOI

10.3390/en13020456

More information

Latest update

5/16/2023