Is it possible to extract clean electricity from the sea? The tidal wind turbines are already a reality for the inhabitants of Nova Scotia (Canada) and Pentland Firth (UK).
The dream of millions of people increasingly aware of the responsible use of resources that the planet offers us is to use clean energy, without CO2 emissions. And that of those living in isolated areas is access to energy advances.
Now two projects based on wind energy produced by tides already give very optimistic results in Canada and England.
Harnessing the strength of sea movements with tidal wind turbines
At the end of 2016, Cape Sharp Tidal company installed a 2-megawatt tidal wind turbine at the Fundy Ocean Research Center (FORCE) in Canada.
Tidal wind turbines are very similar to windmills, except for installation on the seafloor and their blades are driven by ocean flow currents. Its useful life reaches the 25 years, with cycles of maintenance of 5 years.
But what exactly moves them? The tides are originated by the gravitational pull exerted by the Moon and the Sun on the Earth according to the alignment between them. It is a physical phenomenon common to all the coasts of the world. When a large amount of water rises and falls several meters in a few hours, it produces a flow of current with a large amount of kinetic energy that can be transformed into electricity thanks to precisely the help of these tidal wind turbines. One of its great advantages is that as water is 832 times dense than air, the rotors are smaller than those of wind turbines and therefore can be placed together in greater numbers.
The Canadian turbine installed in the Bay of Fundy used only a fraction of the energy potential in a place where the average tide is 14.5 meters and provides 500 houses. A second generator, currently in the process of being installed in 2017, will complete the 4 megawatt project, which aims to eliminate the need to burn 2,000 tonnes of coal and thus eliminate 6,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, comparable to being withdrawn from circulation 1,000 vehicles every year.
Local officials say this project provides clean energy and economic boost to the area.
In Scotland, the site for the MeyGen project is located in Pentland Firth, where the AR1500 generator has been installed in the first phase. It is a horizontal axis turbine with 1.5 megawatts of power that already works at full capacity.
Construction of the next phase of 6 megawatts will begin at the end of 2017 and the entire project is expected to reach a capacity of almost 400 megawatts.
This could be the solution for thousands of people who can not access wind energy or have difficulty accessing energy resources near the coast and, by the way, could be a new respite for the environment.
Source: Renewable Energy, Tidal Energy Today, Global News, Globalspec.com
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