Abstract
Tidal energy has been around for almost 2, 000 years, as the first Tide Mills date the Romans times. Tidal power generation then emerged in the 1960s, with the construction of the 240 MW La Rance power station, a still working example of good renewable energy initiative, permitting electricity production at very competitive costs since now more than 54 years. Unfortunately, apart from the construction in 2011 of a similar plant based on the tidal range technology, the 254 MW Sihwa Lake power station, almost nothing else happened in the real world for tidal energy, apart from very small or demonstration plants. While the future is certainly towards tidal streams/currents technologies rather than tidal range technologies, as tidal currents turbines may also be used for oceanic currents installations, these technologies are still in their infancy, as apart from their theoretical performance, every other aspect of a submerged power plant operation needs further developments.
Highlights
Tidal energy is the result of the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun on the ocean waters
Differences between high and low tides create tidal currents in coastal areas, that can be harvested with free stream turbines similar to wind turbines, or more traditional turbines placed in tidal barrages
There was in the world only one plant of decent size producing tidal electricity, La Rance Tidal Power Plant, a 240 MW plant completed in 1966 and still operational
Summary
Tidal energy is the result of the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun on the ocean waters. The plant of La Rance is built in a very favorable environment for the harvesting of tidal energy It required the construction of a 145 m long barrage with six gates and a 164 m long dike to produce a basin area of 22 km. La Rance Tidal Power Plant, in France, that was completed in 1966, is the oldest and second-largest tidal power plant It is 240 MW with an annual generation capacity of 540 GWh [3]. The turbine is operated by the water rushing into the sea This is the status of tidal power in the world, 1 large plant (240 MW) completed in 1966, 1 large plant (254 MW) more recently added in 2011, only one small plant (20 MW) completed in 1984, all featuring the tidal barrage technology, a longer list of only planned plants plus technology demonstration studies
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