WAVE and Tidal Energy

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"Akil" Friday, July 23, 2010 10:29 AM Wave and Tidal Energy - Best Practices in Manufacturing

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Best Practices In Manufacturing

Wave and Tidal Energy Embrace the new wave!

Wave and Tidal Energy Embrace the new wave! 

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Wave and tidal energy is a developing industry. Hence, like any new technology, to ensure success it is essential to develop it carefully. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation because of the massive size of the oceans.

Tidal Energy Tidal energy is the energy that is generated by the rise and fall of the Earth’s sea level. It is similar to wave power, or wave energy that uses the energy of the ocean’s surface waves to produce electricity. The quantity of energy that is generated is ascertained by how high or low the tide rises. Tidal energy can be created using tidal barrages, tidal fences and tidal turbines. It is a renewable source of energy. Wave and tidal energy is a developing industry like any new technology. Therefore, to ensure success it is essential to develop it carefully. In the year 2005, The Manufacturer issued a statement that wave and tidal energy generation is likely to cater to the energy needs of manufacturers by 2008. By January 2010, UK had managed to put up a capacity that can generate a huge quantity of wave energy (0.85 MW) and tidal steam energy (1.55MW). Experts feel that though the current output is low, the sea offers real avenues. W hat is the potential potential for w ave and tidal energy? About 2.4 MW of energy can supply power to 1,500 houses. Therefore, the adoption of  this technology (w ave and tidal energy) has not yet attained its desired potential. Practically, what is the potential for wave and tidal electricity generation? Can it be a good alternative to other sources of renewable energy? It may seem to be a slow beginning for the UK, but still it is the world leader in this technology. UK has the biggest installed generating base and an additional 27MW has got planning approval. Furthermore, projects of capacity 77.5MW are in different stages of planning.

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Page 2 of 3 Government and RenewableUK is the sector’s leading trade association in the UK. This association is of the opinion that capacity for wave and tidal energy is rising. In the next ten years (by 2020) the industry is expected to increase its capacity by 100% to generate up to 2GW of power 2020. How is tidal energy produced? Tidal energy can be produced in three different ways: l

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Tidal Barrages Basically, tidal barrage is a big dam that is constructed across a river or estuary. Tunnels are constructed all the way through the dam. When a tide goes up and falls it rotates a turbine, which generates power. Tidal Fences Tidal fences are huge turnstiles that are fitted with vertical axis turbines escalated on a fence. The water goes through the fence and turns the turbines. Tidal Turbines Tidal turbines are the most modern development in water power technology that is used in tidal areas. They need to capture strong tidal flows and therefore should be built doubly strong. Tidal turbines look similar to wind turbines that are jointly placed underwater. UK’s tidal resource The UK has important tidal range resource. UK’s tidal range site located in the Severn Estuary is the world’s second highest tidal range.It has a target energy output of 17TWh/yr from a Cardiff-Weston barrage. Other highest tidal resource sites in the UK are Mersey with output of 1.4TWh/yr, Duddon (0.212TWh/ yr), Wyre (0.131 TWh/ yr) and Conw y (0.06TWh/ yr) are the other highest tidal resource sites in the UK. These sites along with other projects provide a potential prospect of generating up to 13% of the UK’s electricity from tidal source alone. Though these sites have produced the expected power, other planning arrangements have failed to materialise due to environmental issues. This is a crucial factor for the slow progress of this energy source.

Marine Current Turbines (M CT) In the Western Europe, Pentland Firth and Orkney waters are strategically the most significant marine energy areas. The leasing around details of these areas was announced on 16 March, 2010. T he Crown Estate granted 1.2GW of wave and tidal energy project leases that included four tidal projects totalling to 600MW and six wave energy projects adding up 600MW. The sites were granted to a number of utilities and advanced technology developers. They include MCT (Marine Current Turbines) Pelamis Wave Power and SSE Renewables Developments .Oliver Wragg, RenewableUK Wave and Tidal development manager says “This announcement is received very well by the industry”. According to Oliver Wragg, this leasing around has surpassed all expectations by granting 1.2 gigaw atts ( GW) of project leases. This is much more than the previously scheduled 700 megawatts (MW ) . This statement is enough to justify the industry to ready to deliver. SeaGen tidal current technolo gy Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has got sanction to install its award-winning SeaGen tidal current technology. This technology will be deployed in Brough Ness, on the southernmost tip of the Orkney Islands (South Ronaldsay) and north east of John O’Groats. MCT has concrete plans to set up its first phase of SeaGen tidal turbines by 2017 and make the entire scheme operational by 2020. MCT is planning to deploy 66 SeaGen tidal turbines in three phases (over a four year period) in a site area of 4.3 square kilometers. Each SeaGen tidal turbines will be capable of producing 1.5MW.The entire tidal set up in Brough Ness will have a total generating capacity of 99MW. This will be adequate to power for 100,000 houses.

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Page 3 of 3 MCT has already gained the valuable experience of installing and successfully operating SeaGen in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. SeaGen is the world leading prototype tidal energy turbine designed and installed by MCT. It is also the biggest grid-connected marine renewable energy system in the world. In any achievement, to move from the research and development stage to full-fledged implementation, considerable amount of funding will be required. For instance, in the last ten years the UK Government has invested around GBP60m for the research and development of wave and tidal technology. Peter Madigan, the RenewableUK’s head of  offshore renewables says,” There needs to be a greater awareness on the initial investment needs of this industry”. The Danish government has invested GBP1.3bn to develop onshore wind. This is reaping GBP2.7bn per year as revenue. An appropriately capitalised wave and tidal sector is capable of creating 43,500 direct jobs. It has the potential of bringing GBP4.2bn per year as revenue for the UK economy. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation because of the massive size of the oceans.

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7/23/2010