Techno-economic Analysis of Axial Flow Current Turbines Applied to the US Virgin Islands

This study analyzes the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for marine energy converters designed for deployment in the Caribbean. This analysis leverages the region’s natural channel formations created by the archipelagic geography. This research is inspired by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) RM4 current converter model, with changes being made to the support structure, turbine number, and size to better align with the region’s unique technical and social requirements. The proposed model performs an initial full-scale LCOE analysis for a single energy converter unit, establishing a baseline cost assessment. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is also conducted to explore how the LCOE evolves with variations in the number of deployed units and current scaling, which takes into consideration site-specific geographical and hydrodynamic factors. The findings aim to provide insights into cost-efficient deployment strategies for marine energy technologies in the Caribbean, facilitating informed decision-making for sustainable energy development in island nations.