PUBLIC INFORMATION SERIES
REPRESENTATIONAL PLANNING, ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL & TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITS
PRESENTATION 2012
HYDROKINETIC ENERGY GENERATORS OPPORTUNITY
OFFSHORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PLATFORM PROGRAM 2010 - 2012
The use of water power dates back thousands of years to the water wheels of Ancient Greece, which used the energy in falling water to generate power to grind wheat. We now are presented with an opportunity to develop a new generation of water power, one that will harness the abundant energy of our oceans and rivers.
Hydrokinetic technologies produce renewable electricity by harnessing the kinetic energy of a body of water, the energy that results from its motion. Since water is 832 times denser than air, our tides, waves, ocean currents, and free-flowing rivers represent an untapped, powerful, highly-concentrated and clean energy resource.
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Estimates suggest that the amount of energy that could feasibly be captured from U.S. waves, tides and river currents is enough to power over 67 million homes. Based on current project proposals, experts predict that the country could be producing 13,000 MW of power from hydrokinetic energy by 2025. This level of development is equivalent to displacing twenty-two [22] new dirty coal-fired power plants, avoiding the annual emission of nearly 86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, as well as other harmful pollutants like mercury and particulate matter. The avoided carbon emissions in 2025 would be equivalent to taking 15.6 million cars off the road. |
All energy technologies impact the environment, but all impacts are certainly not the same. As we choose which energy resources to develop, we must weigh their varied costs within the context of the existing hazard of global climate change. Studies are underway to investigate the potential impacts of harvesting wave and current energy on wildlife and the environment; however, it is clear that these technologies could help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing dangerous global warming. We need to weigh the environmental impacts of hydrokinetic technologies against the environmental and impacts of other available energy technologies, keeping in mind the costs of fossil fuels on air pollution and water pollution as well as global warming, and the need to have sufficient low-emission alternatives.
There are a number of types of water resources from which it is possible to generate electricity from kinetic energy. Capturing the energy contained in near and off-shore waves is thought to have the greatest energy production potential amongst these hydrokinetic options. The rise and fall of ocean waves is driven by winds and influenced by oceanic geology. The promise of waves as a power source comes from both sheer resource availability and a relatively advanced technological development status. Extracting only 15% of the energy in U.S. coastal waves would generate as much electricity as we currently produce at conventional hydroelectric dams. Much of this wave potential is found along our Pacific Coast, near big cities and towns. |
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In addition to waves, researchers believe that ocean tides hold promise as an energy resource. Each change in the tide creates a current, called a tidal stream. These predictably regular tidal streams have the potential to provide us with a reliable new source of clean electricity without building the dams, or barrages, that have been part of the few existing tidal projects developed in some other countries.
Ocean wave power projects seek solid footing on West CoastWritten by Mike Lee |
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There’s wide interest in harnessing the ceaseless power of the ocean because so-called hydrokinetic energy facilities could provide a steady source of energy without air pollution or toxic waste.But there are so many barriers that the concept hasn’t generated much momentum in California despite aggressive state mandates to ratchet up renewable power supplies.Numerous ways of harnessing the ocean's energy for human use are being tested at a marine energy center at Oregon State University and other spots around the world. — Oregon State University |
“Wave energy is just not quite ready. It’s probably a decade away from being commercially viable,” said Cordel Stillman, deputy chief engineer at the Sonoma County Water Agency, which mothballed its wave projects this month. “But the motion of the waves is the most compact and dense energy available from a natural source, and it’s only a matter of time before we figure out how to harvest that.”
Officials at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said no ocean-wave energy facilities in domestic waters are connected to the power grid, though they have issued more than 30 preliminary permits for exploring tidal or wave projects. Also, the Department of Energy has helped fund a renewable marine energy research center shared by Oregon State University and the University of Washington.
Engineers have experimented with numerous methods for transferring ocean pulses into energy for everyday life. They include using devices that move up and down with the waves like pistons and others that look like giant snakes floating atop the waves and producing power as they flex. Some scientists also are exploring ways to capture energy from steady ocean currents that could turn underwater turbines, much like wind does in the San Diego County backcountry.
OCEAN ENERGY
Harnessing power from ocean waves or currents has a big upside but it also has could have negative impacts on the ocean environment, according to a 2008 report by Oregon State University and others. Posisble problems include:
Pelagic Habitat: Minimizing entanglement of sea turtles in loose lines is crucial and some scientists are concerned about potential effects of electromagnetic fields created by the operations.
Benthic Habitat: Wave-energy facilities likely will affect local currents and that may change the movement of sediment and larvae. Organisms growing on buoys, cables and anchors may alter sandy seafloor environments where they will be placed.
Fish: Large facilities could affect migration of salmon, crabs, sturgeon, whales and other creatures.
Seabirds: Above-water structures may attract birds and alter food webs.
Marine Mammals: Mooring cables may lead to animals getting unintentionally snared.
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REPRESENTATIONAL TBNC OPLAT OFFSHORE AIRPORT PLATFORM STUDY EXHIBIT
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP
Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy kicks off for Morild II tidal power plant and the test period.
The Norwegian MPE, Mr. Terje Riis-Johansen, officially opens Hydra Tidals floating tidal power plant the Morild II on Tuesday 23 November. The opening ceremony marks the start of the planned two-year trial period for testing and verification of plant Morild II and the technology.
The tidal power plant has an installed effect of 1.5 MW, and the unique turbine blades of laminated wood with a diameter of 23 meters. Indications are that both of these variables qualify the Morild II to being the world's largest floating power plant of its kind. - We know of no comparable floating tidal power plants in the world. There are smaller scale models that have been installed, but Morild II is a full-scale plant. The largest known turbine diameter of other power plants is 18 meters, and the largest installed power known to us is 1 MW. Thus we can imply with a fair amount of certainty that Morild II is the largest tidal power plant of its kind - says the CEO of Hydra Tidal, Eivind Nydal.
After a construction period of about two years, the plant was launched at sea in Harstad this fall, and then towed to Gimsoystraumen in Lofoten, where it is now anchored and connected to the local power grid. The Morild II is expected to supply power to the grid by the end of 2010.
On the guest list for the opening are suppliers, shareholders, directors, employees and contributors to both research and financing for the project.
ULDOLMIK TIDAL POWER STATION KOREA
STUDY EXHIBIT 2011 - 2012
Uldolmok Tidal Power Station is a tidal power station in Uldolmok, Jindo County, South Korea. The plant was commissioned in May 14, 2009 [2009-05-14] by the South Korean government. The plant cost ten million [$ 10,000,000 US.] dollars and has an installed capacity of 1,000 KW [1 MW], generating 2.4 GWh annually, sufficient to meet the demand of four hundred thirty [430] households.
The South Korean government plans to increase this capacity of 1 MW to 90 MW by the end of the year 2013, increasing the demand cover to 46,000 households, while simultaneously working on the 254 MW Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station. Part of the goal of generating 5,260 GWh through tidal power by 2020.
The Uldolmok Strait experiences tidal water speeds that exceed 6.5 m/s [21.3 ft/s] with the width of the strait being approximately 300 m (980 ft).
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The movement of the tides causes a continual loss of mechanical energy in the Earth-Moon system due to pumping of water through the natural restrictions around coastlines, and consequent viscous dissipation at the seabed and in turbulence. This loss of energy has caused the rotation of the Earth to slow in the 4.5 billion years since formation. During the last 620 million years the period of rotation has increased from 21.9 hours to the 24 hours [4] we see now; in this period the Earth has lost 17% of its rotational energy. While tidal power may take additional energy from the system, increasing the rate of slowdown, the effect would be noticeable over millions of years only, thus being negligible.
Dynamic tidal power (or DTP) is a theoretical generation technology that would exploit an interaction between potential and kinetic energies in tidal flows. It proposes that very long dams (for example: 30-50 km length) be built from coasts straight out into the sea or ocean, without enclosing an area. Tidal phase differences are introduced by the dam, leading to a significant water level differential (at least 2-3 meters) in shallow coastal seas featuring strong coast-parallel oscillating tidal currents such as found in the UK, China and Korea. Each dam would generate power at a scale of 6 - 15 GW.
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REDUCED SCALE EXHIBIT
HYDROKINETIC STATIONS ALIGNMENT
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