Harnessing Tidal Cycles For Generating Power
I had heard of the idea of using the momentum of the waves as they come in and out of the shoreline to drive a turbine above the water level, but using the Tide and ocean current is really a cool idea. Most of the structure is below water level, and theere is a very small footprint on the ocean floor. From above water the structure appears as if it was a buoy or channel marker, but underwater, there are two turbines that look like a wind turbine.
Another rather interesting aspect is that this is more than an idea. This news story is actually about an International study that has identified 16 plausable sites on the Canadian East Coast. There would be enough generation to provide power to small cities.
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Chris Morris
The Canadian Press
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
FREDERICTON – An international study on tidal energy has identified 16 sites in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where generators could tap into the powerful rise and fall of Bay of Fundy tides.
The greatest possibilities for development are in Nova Scotia, where two potential sites in the Minas Basin area could generate up to 333 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a small city.
Brenda Fowlie, New Brunswick’s energy minister, said Tuesday the most promising of eight sites in her province would be at Cape Enrage, on the province’s south coast, where strong ocean currents could generate as much as 30 megawatts of power.
Fowlie said the study has found that the province could generate 90 megawatts of tidal power from sites in and around the Bay of Fundy, which has among the highest tides in the world.
“Second-generation tidal power devices do not involve any dam structures as were used in the past,” Fowlie said. “Instead they use the power from the currents that are created from the tides by being placed directly in the tidal flow.”
New Brunswick is one of seven North American jurisdictions taking part in a landmark study on tidal power by the Electric Power Research Institute, an independent, non-profit centre for electricity and environmental research based in California.
The institute’s tidal power feasibility study involves governments in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Washington and California — all coastal states hungry for new energy sources. The institute says that of all the areas studied in North America, the sites at Minas Channel and Minas Passage have the best potential for major developments.
Fowlie said it’s too early for New Brunswick to commit to a tidal power project, but added the government will encourage demonstration projects and possible commercial developments.
“I want to reassure the fishing and aquaculture industries that there is still a great deal of work to be done before there would be any devices placed in the water of our coasts,” she said.
Tidal power is surging onto political radar screens across North America and Europe thanks to rising fuel costs and new technologies that are transforming ocean energy into a real, reliable option.
The new technology for ocean energy employs tidal turbines, which look like land-based windmills turned upside down and dropped in the water. “The big question is whether it makes sense for these regions to invest in tidal power technology,” said institute director Roger Bedard. “Tidal power would have to be part of a mix. … There’s no silver bullet. There’s no one energy source that could satisfy all of our needs.”
The only tidal power project in operation in Canada is a 20-megawatt turbine that has been turning reliably for the past 21 years in a causeway over a Bay of Fundy inlet in Annapolis Royal, N.S.
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