Abstract
Located on the northwestern of Taiwan, the Matsu archipelago is near mainland China and comprises four islands: Nangan, Beigan, Juguang, and Dongyin. The population of Matsu totals 11,196 and is chiefly concentrated on Nangan and Beigan. From 1971 to 2000, Matsu built five oil-fired power plants with a total installed capacity of 47 MW. However, the emissions and noise generated by the oil-fired power plant has caused damage to Matsu’s environment, and the cost of fuel is high due to the long-distance shipping from Taiwan. Developing renewable energy in Matsu has therefore been a fervent topic for the Taiwan government, and tidal power is considered to be of the highest priority due to Matsu’s large tidal range (4.29 m in average) and its semidiurnal tide. Moreover, the islands of Nangan and Beigan are composed of granite and have natural harbors, rendering them ideal places for coastal engineering of tidal power plants. This paper begins with a renewable energy reserves assessment in Matsu to determine the amount of tidal energy. Next, a tidal turbine type of the lowest cost is chosen, and then its dynamic characteristic, performance, and related design are analyzed. Finally, the coastal engineering condition was investigated, and a conceptual design for tidal power plant is proposed.
Highlights
China and comprises four islands: Nangan, Beigan, Juguang, and Dongyin
To further understand the dynamic phenomena of the helical blade turbine, the turbine was cut as five horizontal cross-sections in 0.4 m, 0.2 m, 0 m, –0.2 m, and –0.4 m, while the origin is set at the middle of turbine
According to the electricity structure in Matsu, which is shown in Table 1, the electricity demand is 67.4 GWh in 2011, and its 42.6% can be satisfied while building a tidal power plant with the helical blade turbines
Summary
Since the global warming issue has become an important part of Taiwan’s energy policy, the current power structure with high-carbon emission has been examined critically, leading to the extensive investigation into the total reserve of the renewable energy in Taiwan. From this figure, it can be observed that the reserve of tidal power is truly large enough to support the power need of this tiny island. Tidal energy does not vary dramatically with the season and never vanishes at any point during the year It can serve as a base load in the entire power supply structure. At the end of this paper, we will discuss these factors and assess the feasibility of a tidal power plant in Matsu
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