If there’s one thing we can depend on it’s the rising and falling of the tides. Up until very recently, tidal power has been a severely underutilized renewable energy source, but this won’t be the case much longer with the announcement of the world’s largest tidal power project in South Korea. A collaboration between Lunar Energy and Korean Midland Power Co (KOMIPO), and would create a colossal 300-turbine field in the Wando Hoenggan Water Way off the South Korean coast by 2015, providing 300MW of renewable energy, enough to power 200,000 homes!
In a landmark agreement signed by the Lunar Energy, Britain’s leading tidal power company, and Korean Midland Power Co (KOMIPO), the scheme will harness underwater turbines that experts say could make the proposed £15 billion Severn Barrage obsolete. The £500 million scheme will use power from fast-moving tidal streams, caused by rising and falling tides, to turn a field of 300 60ft-high tidal turbines on the sea floor.
60ft-high tidal turbines will be positioned in deep ocean water, each measuring 11.5 meters in diameter, with a 2,500 ton frame containing a pump, generator, motor and electronics. The research and feasibility study will be completed by July 2008; and 1MW pilot plant would be installed by March 2009 to evaluate the environmental impact before the full-blown project is allowed. The ecological impacts of this scheme are expected to be less than tidal barrages, which heavily alter the existing ecosystems, destroy bird habitats, and hinder the passage of migratory fish such as salmon, shad and eels.
+ Lunar Energy
+ KOMIPO
Via Telegraph UK
[...] inhabitat Číst dál Vložit [...]
Fantastic all of it.
This is fantastic and will help the world to survive longer.
Leo Mac Ender
It is great as a pilot project to get some experience and knowledge in this type of green energy, but as a commercial project I doubt it is attractive. A 500M pound project, defided over 200.000 houses (peak power, I guess) makes a 2.500 pound invest per household, excluded the maintenance and other costs (calculating 20 years of runtime). That is some serious expensive energy, especially regarding the local energy price. But, the gained knowledge is also worth something, offcourse.
[...] Inhabitat, Telegraph [...]
Hugo – I’m not certain about operational costs, but the overhead cost for an equivalently sized coal plant is probably not less than $300M, and when you add in the cost of fuel over a 20 year period, the costs don’t seem that out of line.
Besides, if it’s a 2500 pound investment over 20 years, that’s only 125/yr for renewable energy. That doesn’t sound too bad, somehow.
[...] at: Telegraph.co.uk, Inhabitat Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
[...] Massive Tidal Energy Project Coming to Korea Harnessing the seemingly endless power of oceanic tides has long held allure to mankind, but utilizing tidal energy has proved to be an environmentally challenging and underutilized endeavor. An ambitious collaboration between Britain’s Lunar Energy and Korean Midland Power Co hopes to remedy this with the world’s largest tidal power project. The joint effort is slated to be completed by 2015 and will help alleviate the threat to local wildlife, ecosystems, and ships by installing a field of 300 60-foot tall power turbines deep beneath the ocean’s surface off the coast of South Korea. The £500 million project is expected to create enough energy to power 200,000 homes and should be finished by 2015. Similar schemes are being eyed for other parts of the world, including one under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. [...]
The project seems to be very attractive. Is it suitable even for the Mediterranean sea?
And what energy will it cost: will it be place with electric boots, powered with renewable energy? And renewable welding-torches? And what about the seebottom, won’t there be any damage? And won’t it affect see-currents? Are there studies about this? Maybe in 10 years there will be more damage done, all in the name of being eco-friendly. We gave it another name and now we can go on with our consumerism.
We always have to expand, and make new things in area’s where no one has ever been. Isn’t the main problem that we are destabilizing every ecosystem, and look for another to destroy? Can’t we use the space we already took?
I have been studying tidal power for more than 20 years and have information regarding design, corrosion prevention, harmonic resonance, chemical composition of machinery using salt water and distillation for fresh water from the sea. If interested in dialogue further, contact me at the above e-mail.
Here in the UK our government seems unable to see beyond re-investing in traditional coal fired power stations. Seems shortsighted to me, to be investing so heavily in fossil fuel fired plants (which contribute so heavily to greenhouse gases) when a viable, durable and environmentally friendly solution is availiable. We are a country with a multitude of islands, headlanda and estuaries around our coastline – all places where tidal flows are very strong indeed – and all ideal places to locate seafloor tidal power generators. Gorden Brown sir – when will you wake up – and find the courage to do something extraordinary for your country ? Building more fossil fuel stations is not the answer.
.
Looks good, but will it be viable on large scales?