Electrical generation from Tidal Energy always sounded a little

[WCGreen]

weird to me until I saw a show on Discovery Science about how they did it...

It seems they placed turbines in the water off New York City and the tidal force provided enough power from one small turbine to completely serve the power needs of a large grocery store...

I was impressed...

They claim that there is enough energy in the tidal action around NYC to provide at least 10% of the cities energy needs...

I just couldn't picture how it would be done when ever Tidal power was brought up in alternative energy discussions until today...

This is so cool...

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I saw a tidal energy plant in Nova Scotia last fall. It was neat, but the tides had to

come in rather quickly.

[philb]

2. Company is Verdant Power, here is URL

http://verdantpower.com/what-initiative

[philb]

3. Another ocean Power company's equipment- OPT

Making Waves in Power Generation

Every continent on the planet is surrounded by a cleaner, safer, more efficient answer to our energy needs. The power in ocean waves. Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is a leading renewable energy company specializing in cost-effective, advanced, and environmentally sound offshore wave power technology. The electrical power generated by OPT's technology is key to meeting the energy needs of utilities, independent power producers and the public sector.

OPT's PowerBuoy™ system extracts the natural energy in ocean waves, and is based on the integration of patented technologies in hydrodynamics, electronics, energy conversion and computer control systems. The PowerBuoy is a “smart” system capable of responding to differing wave conditions.

The result is a leading edge, ocean-tested, proprietary system which generates reliable, clean, and environmentally-beneficial electricity.

http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/

[philb]

4. Israeli company SDE says can generate power at 2 cents per kwh

S.D.E. Energy Ltd. is a Tel Aviv, Israel manufacturer and marketer of Sea Wave Power Plants - utilizing sea wave energy to produce electricity economically, and in an environmentally-friendly manner claiming that their system can generate electricity for 2 cents per kWh.

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:S.D.E._Energy_Ltd.#Latest_Developments

[yellowcanine]

5. It's cool but there are actually only a few places where the high/low tide differential is great

enough for it to work. Tapping into the thermal energy gradient of the oceans has a lot more potential - particularly in tropical coastal areas.

Wave power also has a lot of potential, as well as on-shore and off-shore wind farms.