Capture of tidal energy at river estuaries around the coast of the UK has the po

Question

Capture of tidal energy at river estuaries around the coast of the UK has the potential to make a significant contribution to the Government's energy and climate change policy. Two tidal technology options that have been proposed for estuary sites are tidal barrages and tidal lagoons. Th ne to Describe each of these two different methods of capturing tidal energy. case, explain the installation that is needed to make it possible to capture energy and how it is intended to work. Also, in each case describe the form of river estuary for which the method is particularly suited In each (a) (b) Compare the two technology options, setting out in detail their general advantages One river estuary that has been proposed as having potential to provide renewable energy is that of the River Wyre, which discharges into Morecambe Bay. Development of a tidal energy plant could bring significant economic benefits to the local community, which has suffered deprivation with the loss of its commercial fishing activity. The Wyre estuary is an area of natural beauty and ecological significance, with substantial tourism potential. (c) Set out the possible turbine types that could be considered for tidal-energy applications, giving a comparison of their advantages and drawbacks (d) Describe and explain carefully the environmental implications of a tidal power project built within the Wyre estuary

Explanation / Answer

a)  

The tidal energy is a renewable energy which we get or generate from the tidal waves produces at the river esturies. basically there are 4 types of energy capturing methods for the tidal power plant but we will descibe only 2 of them as it is mentioned above so lets start with first-

Tidal barrage- it is a system through which we create a potential difference of the height of the tidal waves of low and the high tides. when the sea level rise we capture this potential energy in a reservior like dam channel. after that we make the fow of this captured water through the turbine which is attached to the generator and thus we create the energy production and by storing them we can captures them. this are applies at the full width of the river cross sections.

Tidal lagoons-it is a new type of tidal energy capturing method which is quite similar to barrage system but the only difference is that it has some different design aspects then that of the barrage. in lagoons the reservior wall is in circular shapes and the turbines are embedded in them. when the level of water rises the potential energy also increases and which make the turbines to run and this is in combines with a shaft and thus it couple with generators to produce and capture energy.it install at the bank of the river lika semicircular boundary.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

b)

tidal energy is a type of rernewable energy which does not create any pollution to the environment and it is environmental friendly but by the view point of an economist and the social leader it may bring development to some part of the nation but not to all. this is the main drawback in this. the tidal enrgy technology may provide you energy to a great volume but at the same time it may be possible that it create some problem with the business of the fisherman. so the two technologies will be solar and wind energy which will not create any problem to the people of community with their living business.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c)

types of turbines-

there are basically three main types of turbines which further categorised according to the applications. so we will only discuss the main types here.

1) impulse turbine-

advantage- have the high efficiency to produce energy from tides

drawback- very much costly to impliment and installation.

2) reactive turbine-

advantage- not very high cost and suit for high energy power plant like tidal power plant.

drawback- have the low efficiency.

3) gravity turbine-

advantage- very low cost and have the ability to buit in a big volumetric energy sources.

drawback- very poor power generation efficiency and high power loss in it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

d)

Tidal energy power plant is a source of renewable energy but it also have certain demerits in view point of development of environment implications. during the generation of power in tidal plant, the plant hold a large volume of water from the water bodies due to which the aquatic creature get dies as it imbalancing their ecosystem. morever during the manufacturing of the tidal dams, it create the pollution of dust to the water ecosyetm. the habitat of the aqua creature get destroyed. it also create the loss of business of a fisherman. thus if we see it and analyse the total output then we will have to neglect many losses in this. so for some amount of power generation we destroying the earth environement.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse C
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.