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New Tidal-Energy Testbed Launched In Devon

Posted by timothy on from the lowered-might-be-a-better-word dept.

JaJ_D writes " According to the Beeb, Lynmonth in North Devon (in the south west of the UK) have just launched a new tidal energy generating system. The system is different to others by having the rotor blades fully under water and turning at about 20 rpm (so no harm to the fish). Each '...single 11 metre-long rotor blade will be capable of producing 300 kilowatts of electricity and will be a test-bed for further tidal turbines' Clean, relatively cheap and very little damage to the environment either by discharges or damage to the views. I wonder how many more will be made."

6 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. You are slowing the moon down!!! by OwnerOfWhinyCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stop it. Just STOP it!

    This message brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Astronomical Zealotry

    1. Re:You are slowing the moon down!!! by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Cool bit of trivia: this is one of the few forms of commercial power generation that's not ultimately solar. Wind, hydro, fossil fuels, biomass and OTEC are all solar-driven or rely on stored solar energy.

      The other two, geothermal and fission, depend on radioactive elements created in supernovas, so in a sense they're solar too, just using a different star from ours.

  2. I'm impressed by hawkbug · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think that US states like California and Florida need to investigate energy strategies like this as soon as possible. With all these recent improvements with Solar, Wind, and now Tidal energy sources, I'm amazed that the US isn't doing more to utilize them.

    1. Re:I'm impressed by lirkbald · · Score: 4, Informative

      They have. California, at least. If you take the 10 east from Los Angeles, you'll see literally thousands of windmills through some of the mountain passes. I think my electric bills usually indicate that one or two percent of my power is coming from wind power.

      The problem with both wind and tidal is you can't just toss them up anywhere- you need somewhere with steady, fairly strong winds, or unusually large tides. I don't know much about tidal, but I doubt florida is going to have much luck with wind power- it's dead flat, and the best places for wind power tend to be mountain passes, which 'funnel' in the wind.

    2. Re:I'm impressed by Red+Rocket · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...I doubt florida is going to have much luck with wind power- it's dead flat, and the best places for wind power tend to be mountain passes, which 'funnel' in the wind.

      Which is why the next Americas Cup race will be held in Colorado.

      --
      - Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
  3. Glad to see us doing stuff about this by loadquo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The UK needs to do more offshore work on wind/wave and tides as this is the most likely schemes to work (solar, this is Britain we are talking about :), no thermal and little onshore Hydro to speak of).
    We have lots of NIMBYs (not in my back yard) because of the eye sore etc. So underwater turbines should be good.
    Tidal power is also good because it is predictable, if you are going to have a significant proportion of alternative energy (as one would hope to relieve independace form overseas if nothing else) then when the power outputs drops (the clouds come over etc). You need to replace this power with something like gas which needs to be quick to start up and always ready. The predictability of the tide allows the load balancing to be better managed so less gas needs to be used.