Utilization Plan for Power Generated at the Mezen' Tidal Electric Plant in the European Power System

Abstract

The S. Ya. Zhuk All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute for Design and Exploration and the ScientificResearch Institute of Construction Economics on assignment to the Russian joint-stock company Unified Electric Power Systemof Russia have com pleted a four-year study on utilization of the renewable and ecologically safe power generated by the Mezen’ tidal electric plant in the pool of East-West power systems [1, 2]. The following were adopted as a basis for the studies: surveys and design materials on the Mezen’ tidal electric power plant, which were performed from 1940 through 1992 under the guidance of L. P. Bernshtein, basic positions of the feasibility study for the Tugur tidal electric plant (S. Ya. Zhuk Scientific-Research Institute for Design and Exploration, 1996), the 30 years of operating experience gained at the Rance tidal electric plant in France [3], and the Kislogubsk tidal electric plant in Russia [4], and developments of the Scientific-Research Institute of Construction Economics on the creation of a new orthogonal turbine for tidal electric plants, and small hydroelectric plants [2]. The Mezen’ tidal electric plant is planned for the coastline of the White Sea in the Gulf of Mezen’, where basic reserves of tidal energy are concentrated in the European portion of Russia, and the magnitude of the tide attains 10.3 m. Of the eight sites considered for the location of the tidal electric plant in the shallow gulf, the most prominent one, which will make it possible to place the powerhouse for the tidal plant and spillway dam at natural depths without underwater excavations, and in the channel portion, which is not subject to silting by detritus, has been adopted (Fig. 1). The potential capacity of the tidal electric plant is 19.7 million kW with a generation of 49.1 billion kWh. Based on the region’s power demand at the start of the century, 11.4 million kW with a generation of 38.9 billion kWh for 3,400 h of annual utilization is assumed for use in the domestic and foreign markets [1, 8]. Structures of Tidal Electric Plant. The powerhouse for the tidal electric plant consists of 150 floating 93.0 × 76.5 × 55.3-m blocks each with four generating sets manufactured by the Zultser Esher-Weiss Company (SEW) (Fig. 2); the blocks will employ 86.0 × 53.0 × 47.4-morthogonal sets. The water-passing damwill also be built of floating 100 .0 × 45.0 × 38.0-mblocks with four bottomconduits in each block. The reliability and strength of the thin-wall reinforced-concrete design of the large-scale floating blocks for the tidal electric plant, which will function jointly with an artificial foundation bed and under the action of complex loadcombinations, were substantiated on the basis of analysis of their stress-strain state and with consideration of the 33 years of monitoring experienced gained with the floating powerhouse for the Kislogubsk tidal electric plant, and the building of floating water-passing structures in the protective dike for Saint Petersburg. The left- and right-bank dams, which will extend over 53 km (deployed at depths to 8 m) will be built of local materials. A lock and fish-passing structures will be blended into the dam. Ice- and Marine-Growth-Resistant Concretes with Extra-High Frost Resistance. The action of ice and sea water on the reinforced-concrete structures of the tidal electric plant represents a complex set of concrete-destroying mechanical, physical, chemical, and biological effects. Operating experience with concrete structures in various countries bordering the northern seas is negligible, and contradictory in nature. Dams with a compressive strength of no less than 60 MPa are recommended as ice-resistant structures in Finland, while Norway uses concretes with microsilica additives for the construction of platforms in the North Sea. Concretes for the Mezen’ tidal electric plant were developed on the basis of field tests on marine benches at the Kislogubsk tidal plant [4]; this made it possible to determine the compositions for a sulfate-resistant cement with additives of ecologically safe biocides, microfillers, and super-plasticizers, which provide for durable and impermeable structures with the capacity to resist long-termabrasion and the impact action of ice over its service life; the structure should also exhibit extra-high frost resistance ( F> 1000), and resist marine encrustation for more than 10 years