The tidal effects are driven by the gravitational force exerted by the moon (68%) and the sun (32%) upon the earth at a rate of about 3.7 TW. At a present global electricity production of 17,400 TWh/year and an estimated marine current resource of 800 TWh/year, this carbon-free generation method could provide about 5% of the world's electricity demand. Due to the complex marine environment, the design of commercial-scale tidal arrays represents a challenging task. To prepare for fact-based investment decisions, the representation of the tidal regime in a wide-area 3D flow model and capacious...