Underestimated Kuroshio power and its potential sites off Southeast Taiwan

The shift towards a carbon-neutral sustainable society necessitates significant advances in clean and renewable energy worldwide. Ocean currents, characterized by substantial and stable kinetic energy, play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of this goal. However, there is limited research addressing the optimization of site selection for ocean current power generation. This study makes three key contributions. First, it highlights the optimization of site selection for power generation, with the Kuroshio off the southeastern coast of Taiwan emerging as a highly promising area with substantial potential for harnessing ocean current energy. Second, NOAA drifters, shipboard ADCP transects, and a bottom-mounted mooring each register near-surface speeds 25–35 % higher than co-located HYCOM+NCODA model simulations, indicating that the model underestimates the Kuroshio power resource southeast of Taiwan by approximately 70 %. This finding underscores the importance of continued efforts to improve observational techniques and model resolution, as a comprehensive understanding is critical for effectively utilizing ocean currents as a sustainable energy source. Finally, the study quantifies a strong empirical relationship between flow velocity and turbine capacity factor, enabling initial estimates of energy output and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for the preferred site.