Quote:
Originally Posted by horselover
What would the environmental concerns be over tidal power? How much damage would it cause to build something like that? What would the long term effects be on the aquatic life around the thing?
Lot's of questions to ask about this one.
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For all this investment, the average electric power output is severely limited by the twice-daily ebb and flow of tides: average output of tidal electricity is less than 40% of the installed generating capacity; production of power from river dams typically averages 70-100% of installed capacity. Finally, the lunar cycle of 24 hours 50 minutes means the raw production of tidal energy moves in and out of phase with the normal, solar-oriented daily pattern of electrical consumption. Unlike the energy from river dams, the daily, monthly and annual availability of tidal energy is fully predictable, but it must be either stored or integrated with other sources of generation that can be adjusted to accommodate the fluctuations of tidal generation. There are relatively few coastal locations in the world where the tidal range (ie, the difference between high and low tides) is large enough to justify exploitation of the available tidal energy. Not only must there exist a sufficiently high tidal range (at least 5 m) for construction of an economically feasible plant, but the site should also include a natural bay which can store a large volume of seawater at high tide and be so situated within the estuary that the operation of the plant will not significantly change the tidal resonant system (
see TIDE).
Tidal Energy