Different tidal power plants

Different tidal power plants

The tidal power plants are generally classified on the basis of the number of basins used for the power generation. They are further subdivided as one-way or two-way system as per the cycle of operation for power generation.

The classification is represented with the help of a line diagram as given below.

Working of different tidal power plants

1. Single basin-one-way cycle

This is the simplest form of tidal power plant. In this system a basin is allowed to get filled during flood tide and during the ebb tide, the water flows from the basin to the sea passing through the turbine and generates power. The power is available for a short duration ebb tide.

Figure: (a) Tidal region before construction of the power plant and tidal variation

Figure: (b) Single basin, one –way tidal power plant

Figure (a) shows a single tide basin before the construction, of dam and figure (b) shows the diagrammatic representation of a dam at the mouth of the basin and power generating during the falling tide.

2. Single-basin two-way cycle

In this arrangement, power is generated both during flood tide as well as ebb tide also. The power generation is also intermittent but generation period is increased compared with one-way cycle. However, the peak obtained is less than the one-way cycle. The arrangement of the basin and the power cycle is shown in figure.

Figure: Single –basin two-way tidal power plant

The main difficulty with this arrangement, the same turbine must be used as prime mover as ebb and tide flows pass through the turbine in opposite directions. Variable pitch turbine and dual rotation generator are used of such scheme.

3. Single –basin two-way cycle with pump storage

In this system, power is generated both during flood and ebb tides. Complex machines capable of generating power and pumping the water in either directions are used. A part of the energy produced is used for introducing the difference in the water levels between the basin and sea at any time of the tide and this is done by pumping water into the basin up or down. The period of power production with this system is much longer than the other two described earlier. The cycle of operation is shown in figure.

Figure: Single-basin, two-way tidal plant coupled with pump storage system.

4. Double basin type

In this arrangement, the turbine is set up between the basins as shown in figure. One basin is intermittently filled tide and other is intermittently drained by the ebb tide. Therefore, a small capacity but continuous power is made available with this system as shown in figure. The main disadvantages of this system are that 50% of the potential energy is sacrificed in introducing the variation in the water levels of the two basins.

5. Double basin with pumping

In this case, off peak power from the base load plant in a interconnected transmission system is used either to pump the water up the high basin. Net energy gain is possible with such a system if the pumping head is lower than the basin-to-basin turbine generating head.