Generating Electricity From Ocean Currents

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Is this a good idea? Is it practical? How much power could potentially be generated? I look forward to the discussion.

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 749 • Replies: 18

[+3] - Builder - 03/16/2017The key problem with tidal flow power generation, is that of encrustation by molluscs. The regions with the highest tidal movements (more difference between high and low tides) are...

@TomTomBinks,

no idea, but, me too..

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@ossobucotemp,

Yeah me too Tom. Man, Eng, hwboutit

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@TomTomBinks,

It's pretty practical if you're looking at a smaller scale. Don't expect powering up entire states or regions but small coastal cities and towns.

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@TomTomBinks,

I definitely prefer that it not be on a scale that would alter those currents. Probably not possible, but worthy of consideration.

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@TomTomBinks,

Google is a very useful tool. You all should learn to use it.

https://www.boem.gov/Ocean-Current-Energy/

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@maxdancona,

Max of course you're right, esp directed at lazy folk (me). However, there's some sense in the hope that the q'er might stimulate one of our experts; or someone piqued by his laziness and incompetgence, Terribly Angry at All Times About Nearly Everything, might provide a link, as you have

So thank you Max

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@maxdancona,

After the subject came up at work the other day, I looked it up after I got home. I'm looking for a discussion of the idea by knowledgeable people. Opinions and imagination.

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Those principles are rather old - e.g. you still can see (working) tide mills from the 17th/18th in France.

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The key problem with tidal flow power generation, is that of encrustation by molluscs. The regions with the highest tidal movements (more difference between high and low tides) are tropical, and that is where the greatest growth rates of organisms also occur.

I'm liking the dock-mounted generation systems, that rely upon rather gentle wave action, to raise and lower hydraulic rams, connected to floats. The floats can grow as many moluscs and other growths, without affecting the operation of the device.

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@TomTomBinks,

Back in the 1970s we had a programme called Tomorrow's World this showcased technological innovations. I remember seeing Pong being played for the first time.

http://www.retiredguyonline.com/images/Pong-screen.jpg

I also remember seeing an electricity generator based on lake tidal movements, the inventor was later interviewed some twenty or thirty years later. He said he had not been contacted because nobody was interested. You can speculate on why that might be until doomsday.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Here's some newer ideas, Walter.

http://icrepq.com/icrepq-08/380-leao.pdf

Quote:

Wave power lies not in huge plants but in a combination
of on-shore generation and near-shore generation (using a
different technology) focused on meeting local or
regional needs. If this system prove to be economically
possible, only 0.1% of the renewable energy within the
world's oceans could supply more than five times the
global demand for energy,
The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter is a revolutionary
concept resulting from many years of engineering
development. It was the world’s first commercial scale
machine to generate electrical
energy into the grid from
offshore wave energy and the first to be used in
commercial wave park projects. In Portugal, Pelamis
System is now proving to be successful.

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@Builder,

Builder wrote:

The regions with the highest tidal movements (more difference between high and low tides) are tropical, and that is where the greatest growth rates of organisms also occur.

The world's largest tidal range of 16.3 metres (53.5 feet) occurs in Bay of Fundy, Canada, and the United Kingdom regularly experiences tidal ranges up to 15 metres between England and Wales in the Severn Estuary.
In France, it's at some places 12 meters (and more). RanceTidal Power Station, the first and oldest still working tidal power station of the world (opened in 1966) uses a tidal range of 10 m and more (today, e.g. the first low tides was 1.8 m, the following high tide 11.61 m).

Those mentioned medieval tidal mills are even to be found on rivers more inbound, today the still working Woodbridge Mill (Suffolk/England). But in nearby Ipswich had been some even earlier (in 1446, the two mills of Stoke Mill were a tidal mills, one for grain and one for fulling).

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@Walter Hinteler,

Thanks for the heads up, Walter.
I recall a Japanese experimental ship, where power is generated simply by passing water through a metal "hoop" like the head of a manta ray or whale shark's maw.

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@Builder,

Builder wrote:

I recall a Japanese experimental ship, where power is generated simply by passing water through a metal "hoop" like the head of a manta ray or whale shark's maw.

That - see:
Yamato 1 - was a "magnetohydrodynamic drive", not at all connected to tide.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Yes, this idea is old but why isn't it being used? The ocean currents are a steady and massive source of energy. We should be using this in the same way we're using hydro-electric now. I realize there are difficulties. There were difficulties in constructing massive dams to utilize hydro but we overcame them. The ocean currents are an even greater and more dependable source than any river. Why do people whine about how to generate clean electricity when the solution is right there in the ocean?

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Those mentioned medieval tidal mills are even to be found on rivers more inbound, today the still working Woodbridge Mill (Suffolk/England). But in nearby Ipswich had been some even earlier (in 1446, the two mills of Stoke Mill were a tidal mills, one for grain and one for fulling).

I spent two years living around there. It's where this was set.

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@TomTomBinks,

The answer is cost.

If the cost of generating electricity from one method, is significantly higher than other methods, it will never be used. Remember that costs include construction costs, and maintenance costs which are quite a bit higher at sea than they are on land.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

And actually, tidal energy has the smallest potential of al possible maritime energy:

Quote:

Source:wikipedia report

The other day I noticed a report about the world's smallest hydropower plant - just because it seems quite interesting, I post the link (with a video) here: Energy on the go - the world's smallest hydropower plant

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Generating Electricity From Ocean Currents

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