Raising Atlantis – surf's up for the UK tidal power industry

 

The AR1000 is currently based at the European marine energy centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland, but the next phase of testing will involve utilising Narec's new 3MW capacity turbine drive train test facilities onshore test bench.


Only two percent of the world is believed to have tidal power capabilities and 20% to 30% of that is estimated to be in Europe, 80% of which is located in and around the coastlines of the UK and France.


The primary open-ocean testing that the AR1000 underwent consisted of three phases: installation, connection and operation.

Last year the global tidal wave industry, although in its infancy, gained considerable momentum, with most of the big players in the sector having links to UK-based companies or using the UK's leading test facilities.
 http://www.power-technology.com/features/featureraising-atlantis-surfs-up-for-the-uk-tidal-power-industry/featureraising-atlantis-surfs-up-for-the-uk-tidal-power-industry-4.html
The UK marine tidal power industry is in its early stages, but new turbine technologies are fuelling a boom. Heidi Vella speaks to Atlantis Resources Corporation CEO Tim Cornelius to learn more about their AR1000 nacelle turbine as it enters a new round of rigorous testing at the UK's National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec).

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In 2011, the global tidal wave industry, although in its infancy, gained considerable momentum, with most of the big players in the sector having links to UK-based companies or using the UK's leading test facilities.
According to Renewable UK's 'State of the industry' report, published last year, taking the industry from its developmental phase into a fully fledged commercial industry could generate revenue in the region of £6.1bn.

"A report published in 2011 by Renewable UK revealed tidal and wave power employs around 800 people but could employ around 19,500 individuals."

In fact, estimates from the Renewable Energy Association suggest that, if fully exploited, wave and tidal power could supply at least 10% of the UK's electricity. Increased government support and legislation is helping this burgeoning industry find its feet and helping power companies, such as Atlantis, grow and develop its technology.
Originating from Australia, Atlantis has previously held projects in Singapore and at home in Australia. However, due to the advancing test facilities and growing UK market they have chosen Britain to base and test their new AR1000 tidal turbine.
According to Tim Cornelius, the UK has provided ideal conditions to develop the AR1000: "I think it has played a very big part, the fact that the UK is now leading the way in marine power, leveraging off the success of the oil and gas industry and the on and offshore wind industries in the UK."
The AR1000 is currently based at the European marine energy centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland, but the next phase of testing will involve utilising Narec's new 3MW capacity turbine drive train test facilities onshore test bench.
Due to open in the UK during spring, it will provide a unique opportunity for Atlantis to gain rapid data and test the AR1000 in extreme conditions.

Subsea and onshore testing

The marine wave power industry is in its infancy and so there is no set path or protocol yet established for testing wave power turbines.

"According to Renewable UK's 'State of the industry' report, published last year, taking the industry from its developmental phase into a fully fledged commercial industry could generate revenue in the region of £6.1bn."

Therefore, many in the industry have adopted protocol from comparable industries, such as wind, oil and gas, as Cornelius explained: "The typical way you should run an engineering programme is obviously: design and build it, test bench it, where it is extensively tested, then it goes into the field - that is very standard in offshore winds, very standard in the oil and gas industry."
The primary open-ocean testing the AR1000 underwent consisted of three phases: installation, connection and operation. First the foundation structures were physically deployed, cables laid and the AR1000 was physically attached.
Various teams offshore then practised installation and recovery of the AR1000. The second phase involved working undersea where engineers practised and perfected the technique of being able to physically connect the turbine to the power export cable.
Finally, in the last stage the operation of the turbine was tested. This included testing both its generation capacity and the long shore power electronics, which are its power control, power conditioning and inverters and converters.
This element of testing is an ongoing process and Cornelius anticipates that after testing at Narec the AR1000 will go back to the EMEC and undergo another 12 - 18 months operation of the system - providing electricity to the grid in the summer - and then be superseded by the next generation of AR1000 nacelle turbine.
The next stage of testing will also allow Atlantis to see how the structure handles extreme situations.
"Ultimately it [Narec test bench] allows you to simulate extreme situations you'd encounter in a field. For example, the combination of a large wave at peak tidal velocity - so two things providing a lot of impact or rotation speed on the nacelle. You can simulate those sorts of events and insure your various systems onboard the turbine perform correctly, and that just allows you to de-risk the process when you deploy the turbine in the field," said Cornelius.

The industry as it is now

"Last year Scottish Power Renewable, Aquamarine Power, Ocean Power Technologies, Scotrenewables and Wello Oy all had active developments in the UK."

How does Atlantis believe their new turbine will impact on this growing industry? "There is no doubt it is important for the industry to have hardware in the water, it allows potential project investors to conduct more due diligence on the operation. Operational hours are what is critical for the industry. That's from the insurance, investment and project development perspective," stated Cornelius.
"It will obviously have a material impact because the more hardware around the world and the more energy produced, the more credibility there is in the tidal power market, the more investable larger-scale tidal power will become. The more installed turbines in the water, the better the economics are, it is a very simple equation."

The UK is clearly keen on encouraging development and innovation in the tidal power technology industry. From the unveiling of the first Marine Energy Park in the southwest to facilities such as the EMEC, which is the first of its kind, and Narec's onshore testing facility, the UK could utilise tidal power in order to greatly contribute to hitting the target set by the EU of 15% renewable contribution to total UK energy consumption by 2020.
A report published in March 2011 by Renewable UK also revealed tidal and wave power industry employs around 800 people but could employ around 19,500 individuals.
Only two per-cent of the world is expected to have tidal power capabilities and 20% to 30% of that is estimated to be in Europe, 80% of which is located in and around the coastlines of the UK and France. Cornelius agreed that the UK is a market leader and have helped them realise the development of the Nacelle1000.
"I think where governments are able to supply support like they have in the UK then significant developments are made in what is potentially a very large industry. So we like other key developers are very pleased with the level of support that has come from the UK," stated Cornelius.
It is not only facilities and labels that make a real difference to a growing industry but appropriate legislation, helping developers entering into marine power technology financially viable. Only this week Scottish Enterprise, whose money has helped other projects such Aquamarine's Oyster 3 project at the EMEC, announced a £6 million investment into wave and tidal energy in the seas around Scotland.
"The UK's recent legislation and pertaining to increasing the subsidy from three rocks to five rocks per tidal will go a long way to risk adjusting the early stage investments and projects, it will help all developers get down the cost curve in an expedient period of time," he added.

Future of UK marine power

It's not only Atlantis who are taking full advantage of the UK's commitment to tidal and wave energy. Last year Scottish Power Renewable, Aquamarine Power, Ocean Power Technologies, Scotrenewables and Wello Oy all had active developments in the UK.
Power Company Ecotricity are also developing an innovative marine energy capability that will cost less than 2p per kilowatt hour if the technology lives up to its potential.
It remains to be seen how much impact Atlantis's onshore testing at Narec will prove to have on the AR1000 and industry as a whole, and whether Atlantis successfully produce a significant amount of electricity to the grid when the AR1000 returns to the EMEC, which is what really counts.
However, there is no doubt it is an exciting time for tidal and wave power in the UK right now. With continued investment, co-operative legislation and developments like the AR1000 nacelle, the UK is most definitely moving closer to hitting EU mandatory targets for renewable energy with the help of wave and tidal power.

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Tidal Energy – The good, the bad and the ugly

Invention of electricity has been one of the major forces behind the current progress achieved by mankind and hence the efforts are on to find new, sustainable and eco-friendly methods to generate Electricity as the current sources like coal and petroleum are fast becoming scarce and major reasons for grave issue of global warming. Tidal energy or tidal power is one of the methods tested as an alternate way to generate electricity. Tidal energy is basically the energy stored in the waves, tides and ebbs of the ocean. Ocean, as a reservoir of energy, is limitless and according to the estimates of World Energy Council the energy entrapped in tidal waves of oceans world wide is as huge as 1.5 million MW. How to harness this energy in a cost effective and eco-friendly manner is another question all together.

To establish a tidal power plant and to get the electricity in a sustainable manner it is necessary that the difference between the ocean level before and after the tide is at least 4.5 meters. The more the difference the greater is the amount of electricity generated from the installed plant. There are approximately 40 such suitable sites available around the globe and experiments are being carried by various countries on such sites, major being Scotland, Finland, France and U.S.A.
But, as with all the new technologies, there are some good, some bad and also some ugly side to tidal power also. Let’s try and understand what they are.
The Good
1. Tides are predictable
Gravitational force exerted by the moon creates tides and current in the oceans and hence the occurrence of tides and ebbs is precisely predictable as compared to solar or wind energy, both of which entirely depend on the local climatic condition. Predictability is an important condition while testing the usefulness of the project. Supply and demand of electricity varies between day and night and it is necessary that the power grid attached with the project exactly matches the variance. Precise prediction of daily tidal energy production can help in doing so.
2. Green energy
Tidal energy is a clean and green energy source. It entirely works on the concept of converting the Kinetic Energy of tidal waves in to electric energy. Because tidal power plants does not use any fossil fuels like coal or petroleum for it’s functioning, it does not emit any green house gases in to the atmosphere and there by helping to reduce the effect of global warming. Tidal energy can generate huge amount of electricity and their by helps reducing the dependence on air polluting thermal power stations. Also, it reduces the need of installing ultra complex nuclear power plants and thus reduces the danger of radiation leakage, which such nuclear plants have inherently associated with them.
3. Protect coastal ecosystems
Though not totally certified, it is estimated that Tidal Power Plants will also help in protecting the coastal marine ecosystems that are very fragile and sensitive to its surroundings. Ocean Energy Council estimates that tidal power plant like the one in Bay of Fundy, France, affects the local tides by just 15 cm which is far less than the variations caused by natural factors such as winds which can affect the tide by few meters. Also, barrages and other enclosures used in such tidal power plants helps protecting the local coastal marine ecosystems like coral reef from natural devastations such as storms.
4. Low maintenance and long operative life of tidal power plants
Simplicity of design and technology makes the tidal power plants easy to maintain as compared to other alternate sources of energy like nuclear power plants. Barrage system used for harnessing tidal energy is as easy to operate as dams. The simplicity of the design of turbines used in tidal power plants makes it possible to make very strong tidal turbines that require very few repairs and maintenance and hence, they have a very long operative life of almost 75 to 100 years.
The bad
1. High cost
Although the technology for tidal power plants is well developed and principles well established, it still remains a very expensive technology to use. It has a very high capital and establishment costs. The cost of installing a huge barrage structure is as high as constructing massive hydro power dam. Also, the cost effectiveness of harnessing the tidal energy for electricity depends largely on height and length of the barrage structure and variance between the tides and ebbs at the coastal sites which varies from region to region.
2. Low capacity factor
The other drawback of tidal energy is its low capacity in keeping up with the high and low demand of electricity during the day. gravitational force of the moon creates tides which last almost 6 hours and similarly takes another 6 hours to ebb making the whole cycle of 12.5 hours to be exact. Any part of the world thus experiences two cycles of tides in a 24.52 hours of tidal cycle which makes it difficult to co-ordinate with the demand to the existing power grid.
The ugly
1. Effect on marine life
Large barrages and turbines needs to be constructed underwater near the coastal areas for installing a tidal power plants. It is feared that such a large mechanical set-up under the water can run havoc for the coastal marine ecosystems by disturbing their natural life cycle. It also impacts coastal navigation and recreation activities. Fishes can die due to the turbine blades. Tides will not go out normally after the tidal power plant harnesses it and hence it can create and adverse situation for 80,000 plus birds feeding on mud slut after the tide goes down.
Why are we so critical?
Mild and warm waters of tide bring with them tones of nutrients on which small creatures like planktons thrive. This in turn attracts the small fishes living on planktons and the large one feeding on the small fishes. Tidal power plants can seriously harm this natural food pyramid by obstructing the natural inflow and outflow of Tidal waters.
The bottom line
It is a no brainer for anyone that the demand for electricity is going to increase as the day passes and generating it from any single source of energy is not going to serve the huge demand. Also the present major source of energy are fossil fuels which are fast becoming scarce and using them is like digging our own grave due to problems like green house effect and global warming. Alternate sources of energy are the only way forward. Though tidal Energy has its drop backs like high cost, low capacity factor and danger to marine eco system, it has emerged as one of the best renewable sources of energy and most eco-friendly.
As of now it will be too much to expect from this emerging technology to substantially replace the existing energy sources but its judicious use by more technological innovations and keeping in mind its pros and cons along with other alternate sources of energy like Solar and Nuclear Power can considerable reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and can give a new ray of hope for the Earth’s environment.

http://www.ecofriend.com/entry/tidal-energy-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

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