Water Power Peer Review

1
Water Power Peer Review

• Paul T. Jacobson

• Assessment of the Environmental Effects of
  Hydrokinetic Turbines on Fish Desktop and
  Laboratory Flume Studies

• Electric Power Research Institute
• [phone] pjacobson_at_epri.com
• November 3, 2011

2
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
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
Technical Approach

• The project assessed potential for adverse
  turbine-fish interactions by
• 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
• developing theoretical models for the probability
  of blade strike and mortality for various
  hydrokinetic turbine designs and
• 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
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
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 History Budget History Budget History Budget History Budget History Budget History
FY2009 FY2009 FY2010 FY2010 FY2011 FY2011
DOE Cost-share DOE Cost-share DOE Cost-share
401,048 35,000 45,951 0
7
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
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
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
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