Tidal Power

[Adow101]

Here's my idea... take the Port of Dover as an example, it has a sea wall protecting the Eastern and Western Docks, as well as perhaps a mile of beach. The outer wall, I would guess, is about 1 mile long (the main wall, between entrances). Anyway, the length of it isn't the main point here - the tidal range is. With 2 tides a day, could turbines be placed in the outer wall, that were able to generate electricity whichever way the tide was flowing (in or out)? Put VERY simply, drill a large hole, the centre of which is at the median height of the tides. Pop a turbine in there which would turn clockwise and counter-clockwise, plug it in to feed a grid, or a power pack of some sort, and hey presto! Power!! Put a few of these along the wall.....free power (eventually, once the initial costs are paid off) for the port, and perhaps for Dover! Like I said, just an idea. I'm no engineer. If Dover isn't a good example because it may have a small tidal flow, what about places like the Bristol Channel? Isle of Thanet?

[EccentricAnomaly]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_tidal_power_plant

[djh]

Not to mention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Barrage

Oh and of course the whole point of the Dover harbour wall is to STOP WATER FLOWING THROUGH IT

[Billy]

No, thought about it here and there is no real head and not a lot of volume to make up for the head.  Two tides a day only has serious power for 4 - 6 hours a day and then turns into a dribble.  The old tide mills used to fill up a pond and work the mill when the tide ebbed but the power decreased rapidly with reduced head.

Well that's how I look at it anyway.   

I could and often am wrong mind.

billy

 

[camillitech]

I keep threatening to harness this spot just by my hydro turbine,



There's on average 360cubic meters of water flows in and out twice a day



and the gap between the rock is around 4' at the narrowest point.

Problems include, fouling, surge, reliable electrics that work in such a harsh environment and actually finding the time to do anything about it 

Cheers, Paul

[mpooley]

Well my idea is a lot bigger !

Put a blimmin great damn  up between dover and calais and for 8 hours a day power all of western europe 

[dhaslam]

It wouldn't be all that difficult to build a dam across the English channel.   Average depth at the narrowest point is about  45 metres and 34 kilometres long.  If the flow reaches 1 m/s there would be 1.5 million cubic metres per second  and the head would be  perhaps three metres.     That would be  only about 400 times more power output than the Shannon scheme at  Ardnacrusha (400 m/s and 28.5 metres head) that produces about 3% of Irelands electricity.     

I would have thought that the  better use of a dam, or rather two,  would be to reclaim the lost land between England and Europe.  There could be a sea level canal left for ships.     

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/englishchannel.htm

[biff]

good idea dhaslam,
                    there would be years of work for everyone.yet it might just upset the tidal mecanics,the gulf stream would need the flow coming from the english channel to push it out wide and round the southwest tip of ireland, by blocking the channel the warm current would have a tendency to surface sooner and cling to the land mass and maybe divert up the irish sea.then billi would have to stop farming bananas and pinapples and coconuts.
                                                                                                                         biff

[billi]

potatoes will be fine

[dhaslam]

It wouldn't  be great for tourism either, no Devon coastline.    I just spent a week in Dartmouth.

[stuartiannaylor]

I think there are perfectly good sources of tidal and hydro power available in the UK. The whole eggs in one basket approach to PV and wind is just surely something we will later pay for.
Medium scale renewables don't seem to get a look in and that missing diversity is without doubt a huge mistake.

I get the idea of throwing money @ PV to lower cost but its not the complete solution. That is the main problem as if its not a complete solution is it any solution at all?
The UK isn't famed for "Sun" what we are famed for is rain, coastline and drinking beer.
The tidal / hydro has huge potential and its saddly underfunded whilst for a UK environment they are perfect. They provide balance during dark hours and winter.
The whole argument for the singular has as much value as making posts of providing a dam between us and main land europe.
Small & medium scale hydro and tidal provides a complement to PV & wind. They can fill the intermittency gap and provide peak power levelling.
Look at how many rivers we have, look at our coastline and look at the sodding rain again.
Reading this makes me realise its time for another 4 pack of wife beater (Stella as it is called in our neck of the woods).

Stuart 

[camillitech]

I think there are perfectly good sources of tidal and hydro power available in the UK. The whole eggs in one basket approach to PV and wind is just surely something we will later pay for.
Medium scale renewables don't seem to get a look in and that missing diversity is without doubt a huge mistake.

I get the idea of throwing money @ PV to lower cost but its not the complete solution. That is the main problem as if its not a complete solution is it any solution at all?
The UK isn't famed for "Sun" what we are famed for is rain, coastline and drinking beer.
The tidal / hydro has huge potential and its saddly underfunded whilst for a UK environment they are perfect. They provide balance during dark hours and winter.
The whole argument for the singular has as much value as making posts of providing a dam between us and main land europe.
Small & medium scale hydro and tidal provides a complement to PV & wind. They can fill the intermittency gap and provide peak power levelling.
Look at how many rivers we have, look at our coastline and look at the sodding rain again.
Reading this makes me realise its time for another 4 pack of wife beater (Stella as it is called in our neck of the woods).

Stuart 

Makes good sense Stuart, and on another note I've noticed your signature "I just despise hedgehogs! can they not learn to share"

Move to Raasay, there are none  the council still fits cattle grids with ramps for them though 

Cheers, Paul

[Big Wal]

Just to extend the subject on renewable energy , I read the following article by Rowena Mason from the business section of a well known sunday paper, it read. Six wind farms paid £900,000 to stop generating for one night. I don't have a problem with the paying of money to a company that produces a product that we use, but to sit on their backsides and not produce a watt of electricity I feel I've been legally mugged . Why can't they use that amount of electricity to good use. produce the electricity to dump. What do I mean? Like camillitech he dumps his surplus production to his radiators. So why cant they use this £900,000 of electricity to fill a hole with fresh water or salt water that can be reused just like they do at Dinorwig Power station in Wales when needed. Yes there is a loss of cash convertion but at least your not piffing £ 900,000 into some rich companies profit's. Don't get me wrong profit is what drives our society but when it comes to the cost of living it has to be a win win situation for everybody.Energy will come from all sorts of technology and we have to learn to manage it for everyone not just for the few.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/8700082/UK-Windpower-targets-are-unfeasible.html#disqus_thread

[martin]

anything in the Torygraph (especially on this subject) should be viewed in the light of the fact that they are adamantly "anti-wind" and will print anything that would appear to support their nonsensical stance - in this case it highlights the fact that we need to update the grid - (which we know anyway, it's tottering, and will soon start falling over, particularly if we worship at the shrine of the Mackay and add our heating and electric cars to the load.........). A swift Google shows that the impressive-sounding institute is  particularly concerned with gas and oil generated power 

[M]

Possible storage of excess wind!

Documentary on renewables a few years ago, and one portion of the program featured an American bod (ex NASA or aeronautical engineer, something like that) he has built his own fuel cells for his house and car. He has too much solar on his property, and when it produces an excess he uses it to produce hydrogen, which he stores in large, low pressure tanks. When he needs extra leccy he runs the house fuel cell. He converted his car himself!

No idea what the efficiency of this is, but surely anything is better than nothing rather than switching the wind off, so to speak.

Martyn