Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. The first large-scale tidal power plant (the Rance Tidal Power Station) started operation in 1966. Harnessing the power of ocean tides has long been imagined, but countries are only now putting it into practice. A demonstration project planned for Puget Sound will be the first tidal energy project on the west coast of the United States, and the first array of large-scale turbines to feed power from ocean tides into an electrical grid. University of Washington researchers are devising ways to site the tidal turbines and measure their environmental effects. Brian Polagye, UW research assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will present recent findings this week in an invited talk at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
Tidal power is the only form of energy which derives directly from the relative motions of the Earth—Moon system, and to a lesser extent from the Earth—Sun system. Tidal forces produced by the Moon and Sun, in combination with Earth’s rotation, are responsible for the generation of the tides. Other typical sources of energy originate directly or indirectly from the Sun, including fossil fuels, conventional hydroelectric, wind, biofuels, wave power and solar.
Polagye and colleagues are involved in environmental monitoring before and during a planned deployment of two 30-foot-wide turbines in Admiralty Inlet, the main entrance to Washington state’s Puget Sound.
Although European countries have more experience with tidal energy devices, they are not as far ahead on environmental monitoring, Polagye said. He believes the Pacific Northwest installation will have the most comprehensive environmental monitoring of any tidal project so far.
The Snohomish County Public Utility District, just north of Seattle, received a $10 million grant from the Energy Department for the tidal project now in the final phase of obtaining permits. The turbines would generate an average of 100 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power 50-100 Washington homes during the pilot phase.
“We want to monitor the effects of this particular project, but also understand the processes so we can apply the findings to other potential tidal energy sites,” Polagye said.
“There’s surprisingly little known about the oceanography of these very fast waters,” said collaborator Jim Thomson, a UW assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and an oceanographer in the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory. “These kinds of tidal channels where water is going very fast only happen in a few areas, and have not been well studied. The currents are so fast that it’s hard to operate vehicles and maintain equipment. And it’s too deep for conventional scuba diving.”
The pilot site lies roughly 200 feet below the surface of Admiralty Inlet, where the UW team has measured currents of up to 8 knots, or 9 miles per hour.
One area of concern is how underwater noise generated by the turbines could affect marine mammals that use auditory cues to navigate and communicate with each other. Strong currents complicated the task of measuring how sound travels in the channel.
“When currents were more than about 2 knots the instruments are hearing considerable self-noise,” Polagye said. “It’s similar to when you’re bicycling downhill and the air rushes past your ears.” Chris Bassett, a UW doctoral student in mechanical engineering, is testing approaches that would allow underwater microphones to work in fast moving water.
UW researchers used sound from a Washington state ferry to learn how turbine noise would spread from the project site. The data suggest that Admiralty Inlet tends to lessen sound. This reduces the effect on animals’ hearing, which is good, but it also means less noise for marine mammals to detect turbines and avoid them.
The monitoring tripod that is to be used holds instruments to track water quality, ambient noise, currents, temperature and salinity, and to record marine mammal calls and electronic tags on passing fish. This observational data will help determine precisely where to put the tidal turbines, and establish potential environmental effects once they are in the water.
So far, researchers say, the data support the notion that the Admiralty Inlet is well suited for a tidal energy installation from an engineering perspective. Once the turbines are in the water, likely in 2013, researchers will monitor any potential environmental effects.
The Washington state deployment is among three U.S. tidal energy pilot projects now in the works (the others are in Maine and Alaska). An array of smaller turbines was operated during another pilot project in New York City’s East River.
The first tidal power site (Rance Tidal Power Station)is located on the estuary of the Rance River, in Brittany, France. It is currently operated by Électricité de France, and is the largest tidal power station in the world, in terms of installed capacity. With a peak rating of 240 Megawatts, it supplies 0.012% of the power demand of France. The annual output is approximately 600 GWh.
Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.
