Tethys (database)

Tethys (https://tethys.pnnl.gov) is an online knowledge management system that provides the marine renewable energy (MRE) and offshore wind (OSW) energy communities with access to information and scientific literature on the environmental effects of devices.[1] Named after the Greek titaness of the sea, the goal of the Tethys database is to promote environmental stewardship and the advancement of the wind and marine renewable energy communities. The website has been developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office.[2][3] Tethys hosts information and activities associated with two international collaborations known as Annex IV and WREN, formed to examine the environmental effects of marine renewable energy projects and wind energy projects, respectively.

Content overview

As industry, academia, and government seek to develop new renewable energy sources from moving water and wind, there exists an opportunity to gather potential environmental effects of these technologies. Tethys aims to evaluate and measure these effects to ensure that aquatic and avian animals, habitats, and ecosystem functions are not adversely affected, nor that important ocean and land uses are displaced. While these studies are presently scattered among different organizations, Tethys attempts to create a centralized hub where this information can be found.[4] Each document is labeled with an environmental "stressor", "receptor", and "interaction" which categorize the type of potential harm, the affected area of the environment, and the means by which the potential impact may occur. The categories and the technology types covered are listed below:

Stressors Receptors Technology Type Interactions

Annex IV

Annex IV is a collaborative project among member nations of the IEA Ocean Energy Systems (OES) to examine environmental effects of ocean energy projects and research. There is currently a wide range of ocean energy technologies and devices in development around the world; the few data that exist on environmental effects of these technologies are dispersed amongst different countries and developers. While the US Department of Energy is the operating agent,[5] currently (as of July 2016) 13 out of 23 national involved in the OES initiative are involved: Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[6] There have been three phases of this initiative:

Phase 1: 2010-2013

While encouraging collaboration, products included two international workshops, a report, and a collection of metadata forms on project sites and research studies. The first workshop was held in Dublin Ireland in September 2010, drawing 58 international experts from various backgrounds to identify key interactions between device and environment, look into data collection details, and to scope out case studies for the report. The second workshop was also held in Dublin Ireland in October 2012, drawing 55 international experts from nine countries to review Tethys for content and functionality, to provide feedback on the report, and to guide future Annex IV activities. The final report focused on three case studies:[7]

  1. The Interaction of Marine Animals with Turbine Blades
  2. Effects of Acoustic Output from Tidal and Wave Devices on Marine Animals
  3. The Environmental Effects of Marine Energy Development on Physical Systems

The metadata collection effort included project sites that were performing environmental baseline studies and/or monitoring studies and relevant research studies that were underway. Over 150 forms were collected, providing details on nearly every project that has been deployed to date and on the most current research being conducted. All of this metadata is hosted in Tethys along with associated reports and publications.

Phase 2: 2013-2016

Due to the success of the first phase, a second phase was suggested by all parties involved.[8] The primary vision was to identify analysts for each country involved, who could act as representative point of contact for all the Annex IV activities. Activities included maintaining and collecting metadata forms, expanding Tethys to support a community of experts, five international workshops, and a report.

The first workshop was held in Seattle USA in June 2013, sponsored by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, drawing 36 international experts to discuss instrumentation around devices. The second workshop was held in Stornoway UK in April 2014, drawing 45 international participants to discuss best practices for monitoring around devices. The third workshop was held in Wolfville Canada in November 2014, drawing 25 international participants to identify environmental monitoring, regulatory needs, and scientific capabilities to encourage the progression of the industry. The fourth workshop was held in Nantes France in September 2015, drawing 61 international participants to review the planned state of the science report. The fifth workshop was held in Edinburgh UK in February 2016, drawing 40 international participants to examine the collision risk for marine mammals around tidal turbines. These workshops were supplemented with a strong presence at most international conferences on marine renewable energy and the environment.

A thriving international community was fostered through online events such as quarterly webinars and the occasional expert forum, where topical experts from around the world would engage in discussion around controversial subjects. Bi-weekly newsletters and the collection and dissemination of information have also contributed to the international community. The culmination of this phase of Annex IV came with the publication of the 2016 State of the Science report,[9] a detailed description of the environmental effects of marine renewable energy development around the world, derived from years of international cooperation around these issues. The executive summary of the report is available in seven languages and summaries of each environmental issue is available in English.

Phase 3: 2016-2020

While Annex IV has helped advance the marine renewable energy industry by addressing these environmental concerns, our understanding on many issues is still lacking. As such, Annex IV has been approved for an additional four-year phase.

WREN

WREN (Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy), also known as Task 34, was established by the IEA Wind Committee to address environmental issues associated with commercial development of land-based and offshore wind energy prjects. While the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is the operating agent, currently (as of July 2016) 10 out of 25 nations involved in IEA Wind are involved: France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There has been one phase of this initiative:

Phase 1: 2012-2016

The goal of WREN is to facilitate international collaboration that advances global understanding of environmental effects of offshore and land-based wind energy development. WREN aims to create a shared global knowledge base and community of practice around research, monitoring and management of the environmental effects of wind energy development.[10]

Features

Additional functionality is regularly added to Tethys in response to peer reviews, surveys, and general comments from users. However, there are primary functions of Tethys that allow users to experience community, search through the data, and learn more about the new and exciting field of renewable energy.

Knowledge Base

The Knowledge Base is primarily displayed as a table view that utilizes the alphabetical column sorting, facet box selection, and keyword search to allow users to easily sift through the information. Over 3300 media entries relevant to the environmental effects of wind and marine renewable energy are available, consisting of journal articles, reports, websites, conference papers, presentations, workshop articles, theses, books, book sections, videos, datasets, magazine articles, project site information, and research study information. This is a growing database, where relevant materials that are newly published or discovered will be added.[11]

Map Viewer

The interactive Map Viewer shows the locations of geo-tagged project sites, research studies, and documents gathered from across the world. More than 2100 items appear on the map, a subset of the information available in the Knowledge Base. Users may interact with the map with zooming and panning functions, facet box selection, and a keyword search. Selecting one of the icons will reveal a specific page with more in-depth information. This is a growing database, where relevant materials that are newly published or discovered will be added.[12]

Connections

In an effort to connect members of this growing community, Tethys is meant to act as a hub, providing resources and contacts for those looking for more information. One way is by providing links to similar databases that may have different approaches to viewing data, or that may provide a different focus on the data collected. Another page lists summaries of the regulatory frameworks in many of the major countries, providing links to agencies and laws rather than going into detail. There is also an extensive database of nearly 1200 organizations involved in marine and wind renewable energy and the environment, providing a list of publications affiliated with the organization and some basic information. Members of the Tethys community that have created a free account also have the ability to share their contact information and interests to with other community members in a searchable table.

Broadcasts

Tethys also houses multimedia in the broadcast tab, meant to engage users in the Tethys community. Everything is freely available to the public and easily searchable.

Technical overview

Tethys began in 2011 hosted on a Semantic MediaWiki platform,[13] but migrated to Drupal in early 2013. Drawing on many years of experience and systems development, developers have tailored the website to allow for semantic searches and the organization of data through tagging individual files, documents, and multimedia products. Content is regularly monitored and curated, though suggestions from the user community are always welcome.

Future plans

While Tethys is already internationally recognized as a leading resource for information on environmental impacts of offshore renewable energy, upcoming goals are to build a strong community that can address environmental concerns by pooling international experience and information. This will involve activities such as regular blogging, quarterly webinars, online expert forums, conference engagement, and social media.[14]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Database helps researchers assess marine energy risks". Green Futures Magazine. Forum for the Future. 5 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Global Ocean Energy Database Goes Live
  3. ↑ US Energy Department Launches New Database to Support Sustainable Development of Ocean Energy Resources
  4. ↑ Tethys: A robust source of information on marine energy, offshore wind projects
  5. ↑ Energy Department Leads International Efforts to Unlock Ocean Energy
  6. ↑ Ocean Energy in the World
  7. ↑ Annex IV - Investigating the Environmental Effects of Wave and Tidal Devices through International Cooperation
  8. ↑ International Journal of Marine Energy Highlights Tethys Project
  9. ↑ Final Annex IV State of the Science Report Released Today!
  10. ↑ Task 34 - WREN – Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy
  11. ↑ TETHYS The marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) Environmental Impacts Knowledge Management System
  12. ↑ New Tethys Database Offers Guidance For Responsible Ocean Energy Development
  13. ↑ Tethys: Developing a commons for understanding environmental effects of ocean renewable energy
  14. ↑ About Annex IV
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