The American University in Cairo

Engineering Department

ENGR 318

Spring 2001

Report
Tidal Power Generation Systems

Submitted to:

Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Gilany

By:

Sherif Masoud
Maher Amer
Mohamed Samir
Introduction
The World electrical energy market is at $800-billion-a-year (US) and rising.
It has been estimated that " there are 2 billion people who still lack electricity today,
and the world demand in developing countries is doubling every eight years" (World
Watch Institute, May 1997.) In order to meet that demand, while limiting production
of green house gases, renewable energy sources must be developed.

The sea has long been seen as a source of energy. In the middle ages (1200-
1500 AD) farmers used to trap seawater in millponds and use it to power water mills
as the tide dropped. Over the last fifty years, engineers have begun to look at tidal and
wave power on a larger, industrial scale. However, until the last few years,
particularly in Europe, wave power and tidal power were both seen as uneconomic.
Although some pilot projects showed that energy could be generated, they also
showed that, even if cost of the energy generated was not considered, there was a real
problem making equipment that could withstand the extremely harsh marine
environment.

In the late 1990s, it has become clear that technology has advanced to the
point where reliable and cheap electricity from the oceans is becoming a real
possibility. Many countries are seriously considering taking advantage of the tidal
power systems.

Definition of Tidal Power

Tidal power is the power inherent in tides at sea or oceans, that is the power of
motion of water actuated by tides. Tides are defined as the increase and decrease in
water levels due to the motion of water from one place to the other. This motion of
water is actuated by large amounts of energy due to the movement of the Sun, Moon
and Earth relative to each other and also to their rotational movement. Thus there is a
renewable source of energy in the tidal motion of water at seas and oceans. This
source of energy could be used to generate other types of energy that could be useful
in industrial applications.
The generation of electricity using tidal power is basically the transformation
of tidal power found in tidal motion of water in seas and oceans into electrical energy.

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This is done using a very basic idea involving the use of a barrage or small dam built
at the entrance of a bay where tides are known to reach very high levels of variation.
This barrage will trap tidal water behind it creating a difference in water level, which
will in turn create potential energy. This potential energy will then be used in creating
kinetic energy as doors in the barrage are opened and the water rush from the high
level to the lower level. This kinetic energy will be converted into rotational kinetic
energy that will rotate turbines giving electrical energy. Fig. 1 shows the process in
very simple terms.

Tidal
motion
Barrage

Potential
energy
Opening of
barrage
Kinetic doors
energy
Using
turbines
Electrical
energy

Fig 1. A diagram showing transformation of tidal energy to electric energy.

Physical Concepts of the Tidal Phenomena

Tidal movements in seas are due to the increase of water levels at certain areas
in the globe and the decrease of water levels at other areas. This is basically due to
two factors:
1- The gravitational forces between the Sun, Moon and Earth.
2- The rotation of the moon and earth.
As there are gravitational forces between the Moon and the Earth, seas or oceans
water is pulled away from earth toward the moon at the area where the moon and the
earth are in front of each other. At the opposite side of the earth the water is being

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pushed away from the earth due to centrifugal forces. Thus as shown in Fig. 2 there
are two areas where the water levels are high and other areas where the water level is
low. Thus, the tidal motion of water is created. This is called the lunar tide.
The same concepts that apply for the moon apply for the sun, yet, the sun has a
smaller effect on the water levels but when that can only contribute or lessen the
effect of the moons gravitational power. This is described by "spring tides" where the
lunar tide and solar tide are aligned and contribute to each other and by "neap tides"
where the lunar and solar tides are at right angles of each other and lessen each other.
This is shown in Fig 2.

Fig. 2. The spring and neap tides.

How Tidal Power Generation Systems Work

In very simple terms a barrage is built at the entrance of a gulf and the water
levels vary on both sides of the small dam. Passages are made inside the dam and
water flows through these passages and turbines rotate due to this flow of water under
head of water. Thus, electricity is created using the turbines. A general diagram of
the system is shown in Fig 3. What follows will be a description of a general tidal
power station with its components. Also, many systems of power generation will be
described.

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Fig.3. General scheme of the tidal power station.

The components of a tidal power station are:

1- A barrage: a barrage is a small wall built at the entrance of a gulf in order
to trap water behind it. It will either trap it by keeping it from going into
the gulf when water levels at the sea are high or it will keep water from
going into the sea when water level at the sea is low.
2- Turbines: they are the components responsible for converting potential
energy into kinetic energy. They are located in the passageways that the
water flows through when gates of barrage are opened. There are many
types of turbines used in tidal power stations:
Bulb turbines: as shown in Fig. 4 these are difficult to maintain as
water flows around them and the generator is in water.
Rim turbines: as shown in Fig. 5 these are better maintained than the
bulb turbines but are hard to regulate as generator is fixed in barrage.
Tabular turbines: as shown in figure 6 these turbines are fixed to long
shafts and thus solve both problems that bulb and rim turbines have as
they are easier to maintain and control.

Fig.4. A Bulb turbine.

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Fig.5. Rim turbines.

Fig.6. Tabular turbines.

3- Sluices: sluice gates are the ones responsible for the flow of water through
the barrage they could be seen in Fig 3.
4- Embankments: they are caissons made out of concrete to prevent water
from flowing at certain parts of the dam and to help maintenance work and
electrical wiring to be connected or used to move equipment or cars over
it. These embankments are shown in Fig 7.

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Fig 7. Embankments.

The following is a list of different methods of obtaining power from tidal power
stations:
1- Ebb method:
1st- Water starts to ebb or go toward the sea.
2nd- The gates are left closed keeping the water trapped in basin to
increase its level.
3rd- Then water is released out toward the sea rotating turbines creating
electrical energy.
2- Flood method:
1st-Water is let into the basin when it is empty.
2nd-As the turbines are rotated the electrical energy is created.
3- Ebb plus pumping method:
1st-The turbines are operated as pumps pumping the water into the basin at
the flood period.
nd
2 -The water level in the basin is increased creating greater head.
3rd-At the ebb phase the water is let out of the basin creating energy for
longer time than usual due to the increased head.
4- Two way power generation:
1st-Starting with the basin full the gates are opened letting water flow out
generating energy.
2nd- The turbines are reversed as the flow will be reversed.
3rd- The gates are closed when the flood period or cycle starts.

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 4th- Water starts to build up behind the dam.
5th- When a sufficient head is achieved the gates are opened to start
flood generation cycle as the water flows into the basin.
5- Two basin generation method:
1st-Two basins are built one called a high-level basin and the other is the
low-level basin.
2nd- The turbines are placed in the wall dividing the two basins.
3rd- The high level basin is filled at high tide or flood period.
4th- Then the low-level basin is filled through the turbines from the
high level basin.
5th- The low level basin is emptied at low tide ebb period.

Advantages of Tidal Power Generation

There are many advantages of generating power from the tide; some of them are listed
below:
Tidal power is a renewable and sustainable energy resource.
It reduces dependence upon fossil fuels.
It produces no liquid or solid pollution.
It has little visual impact.
Construction of large-scale offshore devices results in new areas of sheltered
water, attractive for fish, sea birds, seals and seaweed.
Tidal power exists on a worldwide scale from deep ocean waters.
It offers short time scale between investing in the modular construction and
benefiting from the revenue
Tidally driven coastal currents provide an energy density four times greater than
air, meaning that a 15-m diameter turbine will generate as much energy as a 60m-
diameter windmill.
Tidal currents are both predictable and reliable, a feature which gives them an
advantage over both wind and solar systems. Power outputs can be accurately
calculated far in advance, allowing for easy integration with existing electricity
grids.

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 The tidal turbine offers significant environmental advantages over wind and
solar systems; the majority of the assembly is hidden below the waterline, and all
cabling is along the seabed.
Seawater is 832 times as dense as air; therefore the kinetic energy available from
a 5-knot ocean current is equivalent to a wind velocity of 270 km/h.

Disadvantages and Constraints to Tidal Power Generation

Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages and limitations to generating tidal
power. Some of these are:

At the present time both tide and wave energy are suffering from orientation
problems, in the sense that neither method is strictly economical (except in few
locations throughout the world) on a large scale in comparison with conventional
power sources.
Tidal power systems do not generate electricity at a steady rate and thus not
necessarily at times of peak demand, so unless a way can be found of storing
energy efficiently - and any storage devices currently available incur a
considerable loss - they would not help in reducing the overall need for fossil
power stations, but only allow them to run at a lower rating for a certain amount
of the time.
Tidal fences could present some difficulty to migrating fish.

Examples of Tidal Power Stations Worldwide

The most major tidal power station in operation today is a 240-megawatt at the mouth
of the La Rance river estuary on the northern coast of France (a large coal or nuclear
power plant generates about 1,000 MW of electricity). The La Rance generating
station has been in operation since 1966 and has been a very reliable source of
electricity for France. La Rance was supposed to be one of many tidal power plants in
France, until their nuclear program was greatly expanded in the late 1960's.
Elsewhere there is a 20 MW experimental facility at Annapolis Royal in Nova
Scotia, and a 0.4 MW tidal power plant near Murmansk in Russia. This compares to
28 GW and 7-10 GW thought possible in the Bay of Fundy and the Severn Estuary
(Great Britain) respectively. It has been estimated that this could supply as much as
10% of the country's electricity needs.

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 Tidal power has been proposed in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
since the 1960s, when a study of the Derby region identified a tidal resource of over
3000 MW. In recent years a proposal to construct a 50 MW tidal plant in the Derby
region has been developed Derby Hydro Power.

Studies have been undertaken to examine the potential of several other tidal
power sites worldwide. Similarly, several sites in the Bay of Fundy, Cook Inlet in
Alaska, and the White Sea in Russia have been found to have the potential to generate
large amounts of electricity.

Conclusion

Tidal power has the potential to generate significant amounts of electricity at

certain sites around the world. Although our entire electricity needs could never be
met by tidal power alone, it can be a valuable source of renewable energy to an
electrical system. The negative environmental impacts of tidal barrages are probably
much smaller than those of other sources of electricity, but are not well understood at
this time. The technology required for tidal power is well developed, and the main
barrier to increased use of the tides is that of construction costs. The future costs of
other sources of electricity, and concern over their environmental impacts, will
ultimately determine whether humankind extensively harnesses the gravitational
power of the moon.

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REFERENCES
http://bigbro.biophys.cornell.edu/~duesing/work/ba.html
http://hydroelectricity.hypermart.net/

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