World's First Underwater Wind Farm, Er, Tidal Turbine Farm
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 10. 1.08
image source: Hammerfest Strøm
How can it be a wind farm if it is underwater? Well, you are right. But although wind farms have become iconic images, the average person still has trouble envisioning the many techniques being tested for harvesting the power of tides. Scottish Power has announced intentions to develop the the world’s largest tidal stream project using the world’s most advanced tidal turbine - known as the Lànstrøm device.
What again? No image pops to mind? So the analogy stands: a wind farm under the sea! Each turbine is 30 meters (100 feet) tall, with blades of 20 meters. They can operate in depths up to 100 meters. Most importantly, tidal power provides a predictable and constant energy source; it does not suffer from blackouts like solar power, or still days, like wind power.
If permission is granted in summer 2009 as planned, the Scottish Power installations would be the first commercial underwater tidal turbine farms in the world. With timely permits, three sites with up to 20 turbines each could be operational by 2011. Each turbine produces 1 MW for a total of 60 MW installed capacity -- or enough to power 40,000 homes.
The Lànstrøm turbines have undergone four years of testing in Norway, where they were developed by the company Hammerfest Strøm. The installations in Scotland represent further testing scale operations.
Two sites are planned in Scotland, in the Pentland Firth and the Sound of Islay, and a third off of Ireland's North Antrim coast.
Thanks to tipster James.
More on Scottish Power Tidal Turbine Plans
Scottish Power
Hammerfest Strøm
Scotsman
Scotland To Harness Tidal and Wave Power
More on Tidal Power
Tidal Energy Plans for Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket in the Works
First Commercial Scale Tidal Energy Turbine Installed
Wayback Machine: Harnessing Wave Power, 1934 style
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There's been a pilot project in the East River in New York City since 2002:
http://www.verdantpower.com/what-initiative
(why yes Dorothy, the East River DOES flow in both directions...)
In some huge,cosmic game of "Civilization" this must matter...
How are they going to keep this clean? Don't they have to clean buoys like every 5 months just to knock off the layer of barnacles that has formed on the bottom?
But it will kill the fishies!
Sushi anyone?
The important parts of the unit are sealed inside protective units and the prototype had been in operation for four years before it's major re-fit. Barnacles don't seem to be a major concern.
The blades move fairly slowly and shouldn't kill many of the fishies -- in fact these style of tidal turbine farms should provide a protected marine environment from trawlers -- so net benefit for the fishies -- bad pun intended :D
I Imagine the blades on this thing would turn quite slowly (as the current speed is maybe 2-3 m/s versus the wind speed of 10-15 m/s and also reduced diameter compared to wind turbine means lower tip-speed) so they will be no danger to fish - easyly avoidable and visible.
But the potential is there as moving water packs some 800 times more umpfh than moving mass of air:)
Oh noes! Tapping to wind and tidal energy will gradually stop Earth from spinning. We must stop this madness at once. And yes shave the fishies!
I have just one niggling concern, we all may have read on these pages about the increase in marine noise pollution and its affect on marine mammals, have any trials been conducted as to whether these and any other wave and tidal projects have any adverse accoustic properties?
There is, likewise, a tidal power project in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy (which I'm obligated to describe as "The World's HIghest Tides") has been operating for a while, and there's a larger project in the works:
http://www.minas.ns.ca/tidal/index.html
I'd also like to give them a shout out, because for a pulp and paper mill, they've made huge investments in green technology, and have proved they can stay competitive.