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Tidal turbine in Orkney starts generating power

26 points by ColinWright 5y ago

slownews45 5y ago
I hope they are slightly honest about the overheads of those costs here - working in salt water -> everything is going to be FAR more expensive and I just don't see easy 20 year lifetimes without real ongoing maint. I mean, the containment for generator alone is going to need to be waterproof - the whole thing is going to need to be waterpoof - that alone is going to drive costs way up. Rooftop solar lasts petty long with a wash every year by comparison.
- barbazoo 5y ago
  You're probably right. And as they say in the video, it's only one component of many in the "mosaic" of electricity generation. Its advantage is that tides are predictable, wind and sun are somewhat more difficult to accurately forecast.
kumarvvr 5y ago
Looks expensive. Wonder how they are able to manage waves moving back and forth. One of the better designs I have seen is to build concrete structures that are partially submerged in the sea, to capture the air flow caused by rising tidal waves, and use it to run a wind turbine. Much less direct contact with sea water. Simpler construction and maintenance.
- bwindels 5y ago
  Building concrete structures in the sea has many problems as well I imagine, also in terms of cost and generally being an eye sore
aaron695 5y ago
Ocean tech is cool, the oceans surface is 70% of the 2D earth so a lot of us will live there one day. As long as we are pushing limits and not repeating things using public money this stuff is cool. It's a cool looking 'boat' The Fall of Warness info - "The Fall of Warness is a tidal stream turbine test site offers developers of tidal energy technologies eight grid-connected test berths ranging from 12-50 metres in depth Since the site was officially opened in 2007, ten tidal energy companies have tested 19 prototypes. The Fall of Warness site lies in a narrow channel between the Westray Firth and Stronsay Firth, boasting high velocity marine currents which reach almost 4m/sec or 7.8 knots at spring tides. As tides flow from the North Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea, they accelerate as they are funneled through Orkney’s northern islands"
- jka 5y ago
  An additional nice detail about tidal power in the video: whereas wind (and solar) energy can be quite variable, tidal energy is much more predictable.
mrlonglong 5y ago
Wind and sun won't always be there but tides will be for as long as the moon continues. Let's scale up this tech and toss it into our renewable mix.

26 points by ColinWright 5y ago

I hope they are slightly honest about the overheads of those costs here - working in salt water -> everything is going to be FAR more expensive and I just don't see easy 20 year lifetimes without real ongoing maint. I mean, the containment for generator alone is going to need to be waterproof - the whole thing is going to need to be waterpoof - that alone is going to drive costs way up. Rooftop solar lasts petty long with a wash every year by comparison.

barbazoo 5y ago
You're probably right. And as they say in the video, it's only one component of many in the "mosaic" of electricity generation. Its advantage is that tides are predictable, wind and sun are somewhat more difficult to accurately forecast.

kumarvvr 5y ago

Looks expensive. Wonder how they are able to manage waves moving back and forth. One of the better designs I have seen is to build concrete structures that are partially submerged in the sea, to capture the air flow caused by rising tidal waves, and use it to run a wind turbine. Much less direct contact with sea water. Simpler construction and maintenance.

bwindels 5y ago
Building concrete structures in the sea has many problems as well I imagine, also in terms of cost and generally being an eye sore

aaron695 5y ago

Ocean tech is cool, the oceans surface is 70% of the 2D earth so a lot of us will live there one day. As long as we are pushing limits and not repeating things using public money this stuff is cool. It's a cool looking 'boat' The Fall of Warness info - "The Fall of Warness is a tidal stream turbine test site offers developers of tidal energy technologies eight grid-connected test berths ranging from 12-50 metres in depth Since the site was officially opened in 2007, ten tidal energy companies have tested 19 prototypes. The Fall of Warness site lies in a narrow channel between the Westray Firth and Stronsay Firth, boasting high velocity marine currents which reach almost 4m/sec or 7.8 knots at spring tides. As tides flow from the North Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea, they accelerate as they are funneled through Orkney’s northern islands"

jka 5y ago
An additional nice detail about tidal power in the video: whereas wind (and solar) energy can be quite variable, tidal energy is much more predictable.

mrlonglong 5y ago

Wind and sun won't always be there but tides will be for as long as the moon continues. Let's scale up this tech and toss it into our renewable mix.