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Water Power Peer Review

Water Power Peer Review. Dr. Brian Polagye. University of Washington, NNMREC bpolagye@uw.edu November 1, 2011. Acoustic Effects of Hydrokinetic Tidal Turbines. Purpose, Objectives, & Integration.

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Water Power Peer Review

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  1. Water Power Peer Review Dr. Brian Polagye University of Washington, NNMREC bpolagye@uw.edu November 1, 2011 Acoustic Effects of Hydrokinetic Tidal Turbines

  2. Purpose, Objectives, & Integration • Determine the likely acoustic effects from a tidal energy project – understand potential harm to marine life • Ambient noise (context for turbine noise) • Sound from turbines (at various device scales) • Marine species presence (space and time variation) • Effect of sound on marine species (injury and behavioral changes) • All data collected over course of project in public domain (NNMREC website) • Industry, university, and laboratory involvement • Snohomish PUD: Craig Collar and Jessica Spahr • University of Washington: Brian Polagye, Jim Thomson, Chris Bassett (NSF graduate research fellow), Joe Graber • SMRU, Ltd: Dom Tollit and Jason Wood • PNNL: Andrea Copping and Tom Carlson

  3. Technical Approach Monitoring Biological and Physical Characteristcs Sea Spider (bottom-mounted) Ambient noise recorder Marine mammal echolocation detectors Fish tag receiver Doppler profiler AIS Tracking (land-based) Infrared detection (land-based)

  4. Technical Approach Sound from Tidal Turbines • Limited measurements from OpenHydro turbine at EMEC • Apply first-order scaling rules for arrays of larger turbines • Focus on post-installation characterization of turbine noise • Omnidirectional sound propagation test • Demonstrate characterization methodology for TRL 7/8 projects • Necessary to place turbine noise in context of ambient noise OpenHydro turbine noise measurements (Scottish Association of Marine Sciences )

  5. Technical Approach Effects of Turbine Noise • Literature review of effects on marine species from percussive and continuous noise • Laboratory experiments expanding knowledge base (juvenile salmon) • Exposure to simulated turbine noise in anechoic tank • Measured hearing response to identify onset of threshold shift • Necropsies to identify tissue damage • Proxy study: effect of ferry noise on harbor porpoise • Ferry noise frequency distribution similar to turbine Top: Fish undergoing an Auditory Evoked Potential (AEP) Hearing test. Bottom: Electrophysiological response

  6. Plan, Schedule, & Budget Schedule • Initiation date: September 30, 2009 (under contract March 26, 2010) • Planned completion date: December 31, 2011 • Fabrication and deployment of Sea Spiders (August 2010) • Sound propagation field study (August 2011) • Laboratory hearing/exposure experiment (March – June 2011) • Presentation of results (e.g., webinars, conferences) (2010-2011) Budget • Two additional Sea Spider deployments (increased supplies) • 85% of DOE funds costed (September 2011)

  7. Accomplishments and Results Context is Crucial for Interpreting Acoustic Effects Estimated effect of turbine operation on ambient noise Ambient noise will also complicate post-installation measurements

  8. Accomplishments and Results Maximum Ambient Noise is Vessel Dominated Vessel density (vessel-minutes) in project area Cumulative probability distributions of broadband received levels

  9. Accomplishments and Results Marine Mammal Response is Site-Specific N = 16 R2 = 0.1, F = 5.5, p = 0.02 • No apparent avoidance to exposure at 140 dB (broadband) • Indicator of noise habituation

  10. Challenges to Date • Acoustic Source • Limited measurements – difficult to quantify “turbine noise” • Focus on testing methods to characterize turbine noise post-install • Measurements • Flow noise and self noise affect measurements when currents > 1 m/s • Development of compact flow shield for stationary measurements and drifting hydrophone approach • Species effects • Cannot experiment directly on marine mammals • Opportunistic proxy studies • Surrogate laboratory experiments OpenHydro turbine noise measurements (Scottish Association of Marine Sciences )

  11. Next Steps • Project Completion • Summary report describing techniques and lessons learned • Analysis of source propagation data • Publications: vessel noise, harbor porpoise presence, proxy study of noise effects • Future Work • Better analytical tools for scaling noise estimates from measurements • Simple tools for pre-installation estimates – emphasize measuring noise at pilot-scale • Scale-up – design trade-offs for quieter turbines

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