4 ms·

Tidal turbines are a good contender. The tides are constant.

onphonenow 4y ago
As someone who has spent a fair bit of time in / around salt water I’m skeptical of these claims. I want to see all in deployment costs with maintenance. Are these deep water or do they need to be shallow water where they will be banged up even more in storms etc
- dncornholio 4y ago
  I don't know about tidal forces, I do know in the Netherlands they create energy from salt / fresh water dialysis. https://redstack.nl/en/ https://redstack.nl/en/
jcampbell1 4y ago
Tidal turbines are viable in inlets where currents are consistently strong during tidal changes, the problem is they often disrupt the ecosystems around where fish need to spawn. Altering the total water flow into estuaries is sketchy and the good places are typically shipping lanes. You could put them in a place like Gibraltar and live with reduced water exchange in the Mediterranean, but it will be met with a lot of resistance. Ideas that rely on moving a mass up and down 10 feet every 6 hours require floating platforms the size of Rhode Island. Not cheap to build. Neither strategy is a contender in my book. I recall a research project in France which the results were unappealing. The environmental costs were high and power generated was low. You have to be careful getting scientific knowledge from the mainstream press or researchers who need to sell their research which means it is more akin to marketing than scientific knowledge.
- moloch-hai 4y ago
  Attempts at tidal power extraction in the Bay of Fundy have failed because the turbines broke, every time. Attaching a simple float to a cable and pulley turning a generator onshore seems not to have occurred to them. Numerous (i.e. all) wave energy startups have likewise gone bust trying to keep machinery working exposed to maritime weather. It seems never to occur to them to keep the stuff that would need attention onshore and indoors.

As someone who has spent a fair bit of time in / around salt water I’m skeptical of these claims. I want to see all in deployment costs with maintenance. Are these deep water or do they need to be shallow water where they will be banged up even more in storms etc

dncornholio 4y ago
I don't know about tidal forces, I do know in the Netherlands they create energy from salt / fresh water dialysis. https://redstack.nl/en/ https://redstack.nl/en/

jcampbell1 4y ago

Tidal turbines are viable in inlets where currents are consistently strong during tidal changes, the problem is they often disrupt the ecosystems around where fish need to spawn. Altering the total water flow into estuaries is sketchy and the good places are typically shipping lanes. You could put them in a place like Gibraltar and live with reduced water exchange in the Mediterranean, but it will be met with a lot of resistance. Ideas that rely on moving a mass up and down 10 feet every 6 hours require floating platforms the size of Rhode Island. Not cheap to build. Neither strategy is a contender in my book. I recall a research project in France which the results were unappealing. The environmental costs were high and power generated was low. You have to be careful getting scientific knowledge from the mainstream press or researchers who need to sell their research which means it is more akin to marketing than scientific knowledge.

moloch-hai 4y ago
Attempts at tidal power extraction in the Bay of Fundy have failed because the turbines broke, every time. Attaching a simple float to a cable and pulley turning a generator onshore seems not to have occurred to them. Numerous (i.e. all) wave energy startups have likewise gone bust trying to keep machinery working exposed to maritime weather. It seems never to occur to them to keep the stuff that would need attention onshore and indoors.