The new computer program – SMARTtide (Simulated Marine Array Resource Testing) – includes a 2D hydrodynamic model of the UK’s continental shelf and the north-west European coastline.
ETI noted that the SMARTtide analyzes how energy extraction at one site may affect the energy available elsewhere.
It enables the modelers to create their own input specifications for a site and then the model is run on their behalf without any need of expensive computers, bespoke model design costs and bathymetry data license costs.
Commenting on the modeling tool, ETI Marine Technology program manager Simon Cheeseman said the new software offers a regional description of potential marine energy resources in UK waters.
HR Wallingford Energy business manager Mark Liddiard said, "SMARTtide is a dynamic, credible and robust model for tidal energy array testing and has been independently verified by Black & Veatch and the universities of Oxford, Liverpool and Edinburgh."
