How Tidal works?

When water levels are high in oceans and tides are producing and rushing to and fro, it has potential to produce electricity out of it.  For producing electricity out of such wild potential oceans barrage is installed around the corner of river, then water turbines are installed inside the barrage. When water rushes through these turbines it produces electricity.

For producing significant amount of energy out of tidal water turbines, range of tides should be high and substantial amount of water should be there for pushing water through the turbine.  Approximately 4 to 5 r meters range of tides are require to produce significant amount electricity.

It is significantly important to spot the appropriate place which provide suitable and sustainable conditions to produce tidal energy, there are plenty of places around the globe which provide good conditions for installing water turbines and then produce electricity use tidal power of oceans in the location. For instance in Canada, there is place with name of Bay of Fundy which produces highest and largest tide ranges in the world. Its average range is 10.8 meters

Note: This image show water turbine installed inside barrage and wings rotatoes with flow of water to producing electricity.

Note: This video show water turbine installed inside barrage and wings rotatoes with flow of water to producing electricity.

 

On going Tidal energy projects:

There are many on going tidal power projects world wide, out of which the largest tidal energy station is in Europe ,it is in Rance estuary in north France, and it was developed in 1966. This tidal station is only one in entire Europe.

 

Proposed Tidal energy projects world wide

There is a proposed project with name Severn Barrage, in Wales. This project has been proposed in past but it never got initiated. This project estimated cost is about  £15 million. It is also stated that it will produce energy which is massive 8000 MW, which is more than 12 nuclear worth of power station, some proposals have mentioned that it will provide 2500 MG worth of power, there is huge difference between power generation estimation and it is not appropriate to risk £15 millions worth of money. This is the main reason why this project is yet start.

Other projects which are yet to be completed:

Tidal Power Projects ( Click the link for details)	Capacity in MegaWatts	Expected years for completion
In Canada, CORE Project	15MW	2011
In South Korea, Wando Hoenggan Waterway,	300MW	2015
In New Zealand, Kaipara Harbour	200MW	2018
In Scotland, Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project	10MW
In Scotland, Islay Project	2MW

 

Cost estimation for tidal energy station:

The cost associated for developing tidal power station can vary from project to project. if capacity of generating electricity of the project is in megawatts that is obviously going to cost a lot more than if capacity is limited in kilowatts. We generally do not see tidal power plants capacity worth in Kilowatts. It is more suitable and economical when developed for large scale electricity generation.

For instance, project Severn Estuary in UK  cost US $15 billion which produces 8000 MW. 2200 MW worth of tidal power station project in San Berandino which spent US $ billion.

Advantages of tidal energy station:

There are lots of advantages associated with renewable energies such Tidal energy when we compare it with fossil fuels. Below are the bullets which are convincing enough to raise the vote of tidal energy and against the consumption of current fossil fuel sources.

• Once tidal power plant is built its’ electricity is free.
• It does not emit greenhouse gasses, carbon emission gasses which pollute environment.
• It does not have any dependency of any fossil fuel including furnace oil, gasses, etc; it needs no oil what so ever to produce electricity.
• Tidal power technology is renewable energy, which uses tidal and waves of same water for producing electricity over and over again.
• Tidal power technology like all renewable energy is clean energy and does not leave much impact on environment.
• Tidal power plants does not require much maintenance, therefore it is maintenance cost free.
• Tidal energy stations have about 80 % efficiency ratio, where as fossil fuel have approximately 30 % for efficiency levels.
• Tides in oceans are very predictable, its easy to judge when strong tides are going to show up from water consider weather and other conditions.
• The better tides and wave strengths of the oceans is, improved the efficiency of the station is.
• Electricity does not fluctuate on large scale using tidal energy as it happens in solar power technology.

Solar duck is the name of device which works on same phenomenon as tidal energy works on, this device float on surface of the waves of water in result produce electricity. It does not have any effect to life in water. Solar duck device and tidal energy is very environment friendly.

Disadvantages of tidal energy station:

There are some disadvantages associated with tidal power technology, following are some of the most obvious points which makes think twice before any tidal energy project proposal.

• Tidal power plants are not cost effective. Millions of dollars are utilized for developing tidal power which could provide electricity in Megawatts.
• It causes some sort of environmental changes; and destruction beneath and upstream on entire area covered by tidal power plant.
• There are not many places in the world where tidal power plant can be built; it needs ocean which provide certain flow of waves and tides of water.
• Tidal power plants can only be built in water; it cannot be built on inland area, like solar power plant, wind power plants etc.
• Electricity can only be produced when tides are high in the sea, once ocean is calm and does not flow certain level of waves, it cannot produce electricity. Therefore electricity can be produced for only 10 hrs a day in presence of tides.
• Barrage installation is tough task as even single part of entire turbine is required to be place in appropriate position.
• Barrage system are require to be salt resistant part as it is always remain under water, therefore barrage part of tidal power plant need bit of maintenance time to time.
• Wings of turbine inside water can affect life under water, and in some cases can produce distraction on the way of ships passing through the area around tidal power station.
• Electricity produced using tidal power station is on expensive side when it is compared with conventional ways of producing electricity for instance with oil, coal and natural gas etc.
• During development phase of tidal power plant ecosystem gets disturbed, which effect marine life and fishermen associated with fishing business on that area.
• Turbines can be faulty some times which is very tough job to do. Tidal technology is used but its’ technology is not yet fully developed.
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