Tidal energy contributes a significant amount of energy to the total renewable energy production around the globe. In order to make the segment more efficient; scientists and engineers are continuously working on finding innovative solutions to the constraints faced by wind turbines.
As of now, there are two practical modifications that can help squeezing out the most efficient production. Firstly, the turbines can be physically forged into more efficient models. This includes expanding the size of the blades or reshaping them etc. The second option is to optimise the location of the turbines.
The second part seems to lack the scope of improvement, but as a matter of fact it’s much more complex than it sounds. Since wind turbines are not mobile and can operate for decades, it involves plenty of variables to take into account before setting it up. Considering these hassles, now supercomputers are introduced for the job.
These supercomputers not only pin point the best locations to setup the turbine but also informs the favourable time to do so. These computers and software analyze petabytes of both structured and unstructured data which includes weather reports, tidal phases, geospatial and sensor data, satellite images, deforestation maps, and weather modelling research to do the job. These computers and modelling software are not just used in the installation of turbines. They keep the analysis going while in the operational phase. This determines the appropriate duration of maintenance and analyses data to further refine the technology from the learning.