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3 | Wind and Water Power Programeere.energy.gov Purpose, Objectives, & Integration The Wind and Water Power Program supports research and development to identify and address the technical and nontechnical barriers to achieving the potential of advanced water power technologies. Natural resource management agencies and other stakeholders express concerns regarding potential adverse effects of hydrokinetic turbine deployments on fish. Uncertainty regarding the significance of this issue adds uncertainty, cost, and time to permitting and licensing activities. This project constitutes seminal work in hydrokinetic turbine-fish interactions, and provides substantial information to reduce the range of uncertainty and inform permitting and licensing decisions.
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1 | Program Name or Ancillary Text eere.energy.gov
Water Power Peer Review
Assessment of the Environmental Effects of Hydrokinetic Turbines on Fish: Desktop and Laboratory Flume Studies
Paul T. JacobsonElectric Power Research Institute(410) 489-3675 [email protected] 3, 2011
2 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Purpose, Objectives, & Integration
Objective: determine injury, survival rates and behavioral effects for fish passing through hydrokinetic turbines.
As the number of experimental and permanent field applications increase, so will concerns with the effects of installation and operation on aquatic organisms.
Direct measurement of injury and survival rates in the field is technically challenging.
Laboratory flume testing allows for highly controlled evaluations with the ability to closely monitor fish movements and behavior with underwater video systems and advanced radio telemetry techniques, and to recover and examine all fish that have passed through a turbine.
3 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Purpose, Objectives, & Integration
The Wind and Water Power Program supports research and development to identify and address the technical and nontechnical barriers to achieving the potential of advanced water power technologies.
Natural resource management agencies and other stakeholders express concerns regarding potential adverse effects of hydrokinetic turbine deployments on fish. Uncertainty regarding the significance of this issue adds uncertainty, cost, and time to permitting and licensing activities.
This project constitutes seminal work in hydrokinetic turbine-fish interactions, and provides substantial information to reduce the range of uncertainty and inform permitting and licensing decisions.
4 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Technical Approach
The project assessed potential for adverse turbine-fish interactions by:
(1)conducting a review of existing information on injury mechanisms associated with fish passage through conventional hydro turbines and determine its relevance and applicability to fish passage through hydrokinetic turbines;
(2)developing theoretical models for the probability of blade strike and mortality for various hydrokinetic turbine designs; and
(3)conducting flume studies with three turbine designs and several species and size classes of fish to estimate injury and survival rates and describe fish behavior in the vicinity of operating turbines.
5 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Technical Approach
The flume studies are the first to empirically quantify fish interactions with hydrokinetic turbines.
Fish exhibited a propensity to avoid passing through the area swept by the turbine blades unless physically constrained to pass by that route.
6 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Plan, Schedule, & Budget
Schedule• Initiation date: 1/1/2010• Planned completion date: October 2011• Public presentations of project results (Hydrovision International,
July, 2011; American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, September, 2011; others); DOE-sponsored webcast presentation of project results, August 29, 2011; Internal and external technical and editorial reviews completed October, 2011.
Budget: • Budget fully expended
Budget HistoryFY2009 FY2010 FY2011
DOE Cost-share DOE Cost-share DOE Cost-share
$401,048 $35,000 $45,951 $0
7 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Accomplishments and Results
Evaluation of conventional hydropower literature indicates strike is the predominant source of potential injury and mortality to fish passing through hydrokinetic turbines.
Theoretical modeling indicated decreasing passage survival with increasing fish size and approach velocity for one turbine design and 100% survival across all fish sizes and approach velocities modeled for another turbine. The flume studies are the first to empirically quantify fish interactions with hydrokinetic turbines. Fish exhibited a propensity to avoid passing through the area swept by the turbine blades unless physically constrained to pass by that route. Overall, survival exceeded 98% under all test conditions.
8 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Accomplishments and Results
The flume studies are the first to empirically quantify fish interactions with hydrokinetic turbines.
Fish exhibited a propensity to avoid passing through the area swept by the turbine blades unless physically constrained to pass by that route.
Overall, survival exceeded 98% under all test conditions.
9 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Challenges to Date
Flume tests in the Alden flume sought to quantify injury and survival rates given passage through the area swept by the turbine blades
Fish exhibited a propensity to avoid the blade sweep area
Additional measures were taken in attempt to force fish through the turbine:– release immediately in front of unducted turbine– netting to prevent avoidance of ducted turbine
10 | Wind and Water Power Program eere.energy.gov
Next Steps
Dissemination of project results
Future research opportunities:• Enhanced observation and quantification of turbine
avoidance• Injury and survival experiments under additional test
conditions:– temperature– ambient light– species, sizes, life stages
