The 1,000-kilowatt plant will produce 2.4 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually. Power capacity will be expanded to 90,000 kilowatts by 2013 in the second stage providing electricity for around 46,000 households. In its initial capacity the power plant will produce enough power to provide electricity to 430 households.

The Uldol-muk Strait produces maximum tidal water speeds that exceed 6.5 m/s and the width of the strait is around 300 meters. In short, it is the ideal location for a tidal power plant.

According to the Korean government the Uldolmok Power Plant is a step towards achieving its goal of  of generating 5,260 gigawatt hours using tidal power by 2020.

Another tidal power plant in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province is under construction and will be completed next year. The Sihwa plant in Ansan, near Seoul, will be world’s largest plant of its kind, with the ability to generate 254,000 kilowatts per hour using seawater flowing into Shihwa reservoir. The ministry is also conducting feasibility surveys on the sea near Jindo for the site of two additional tidal power plants.

Another Korean tidal energy development in progress is the Wando Hoenggan Waterway project.

This is the first turbine of a proposed 300 which the city hopes to install in the waterway. Unlike the typical river which flows in a constant direction, the East River is a tidal straight with strong, fluctuating currents which allow for more efficient power generation. Once in place, the system could provide electricity to 10,000 households.

Verdant Power is the company behind the project which is known as the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project (RITE) and the installation of the latest turbine is part of Phase 2 of a three phase project. The previous two attempts to tap the tides of the East River resulted in the turbines failing with the blades shredded by the power of the waterway. The accompanying photo shows the installation of one of the failed turbines.

The aim of RITE is to generate up to 10MW of electricity using the renewable energy source. Because the East River is actually a tidal waterway, the water flow fluctuates in direction which requires a specialist turbine system. The aluminum turbine that has just been installed is the first of its kind in the United States. The earlier versions of this turbine were made of fiberglass over a steel skeleton.

The city has spent $2 million in the past few years studying the impact the turbines would have on local fish and bird populations, but so far it seems that the animals avoid the blades and escape harm. However, regulations state that the impact on the waterway’s animal life must be monitored continuously.

Verdant Power, a small energy company hired for the job, said that this third version was thoroughly tested before being installed; so far it has worked, and is already powering a nearby supermarket. If the blades continue to hold together, the city should soon give further production and installation a green light.

Tidal power has finally being added to the national grid at Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The test of the SeaGen device operated by Marine Current Turbines (MCT) produced enough electricity to power 150 homes and provides a good test for the start of commercial operations in a few weeks time. During this commissioning phase the device was limited to a capability of only 150kW.

When SeaGen moves to commercial operation it will generate 1.2MW of renewable energy and will generate enough electricty to power over 1,000 homes.

Managing director Martin Wright said yesterday: “This is an important milestone for the company and indeed the development of the marine renewable energy sector as a whole.

“SeaGen, MCT, tidal power and the UK Government’s push for marine renewables all now have real momentum.”

Secretary of State for Energy, John Hutton said: “This kind of world first technology and innovation is key to helping the UK reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and secure its future energy supplies.”

You can read the full press release of this momentous event by visiting the website of Marine Current Turbines.

For this reason a new technology is under consideration by EDF to power a prototype project that will produce between 4 to 6MW at a cost of between €23 million to €27 million. The turbines are hoped to be in place off the coast of Paimpol in Brittany by 2011. It’s in these waters that the strongest currents in Europe are found.

The pilot scheme will enable the chosen technology to be tested in real conditio0ns which will allow a realistic assessment of the profitability of a future commercial scale venture.

The original application was made by large corporation Natural Currents Energy Services, but the town and local private citizens of Edgartown have worked to get the permit for their own waters.

On March 31, FERC granted a permit for Edgartown and the University of Massachusetts to study the feasibility of the tidal-energy project, ruling that the town was entitled under federal regulations to get the first permit for the waters. The rights gives them 36 months to test whether the strong tides in the Muskeget Channel will provide enough energy to generate cost effective electricity.

According to the permit, the Edgartown-Nantucket Tidal Energy Plant Water Power Project calls for 50 ocean-current, turbine-generation units, with a 3-mile-long transmission line that would carry the electricity to land to be sold to local utilities.

The plan for the Edgartown-Nantucket Tidal Energy Plant Water Power Project is to deploy 50 ocean-current turbine generation units under the terms of the permit. To carry the electricity to land a 3-mile-long transmission line will also be laid and the generated electricity will be sold to local utilities.

It is estimated that the generated electricity at peak times will be around 2MW of power That would be enough energy to power about 1,500 homes at 1.3 kilowatts per home daily, according to a preliminary assessment by the Electric Power Research Institute.

This is an interesting story of a local community taking control of their own renewable energy needs in an innovative way.

Because the Pulse Stream 100 can operate in shallow waters, it can be deployed close to land enabling power to be delivered more cheaply without having to install costly long range transmission cables.

The Pulse Stream 100 is a 100kW device and sits in around 5 metres of water giving it a capability of generating enough electricity to power 70 homes. The device works by using high-performance hydrofoils which move up and down in a manner that is similar to the movement of a whale’s tail.

At a limited depth site, the Pulse Stream 100 generator is able to extract as much as 3 times the energy that can be extracted by a single cross flow turbine.

The lead partner for this project is Hampshire based IT Power. It is also a collaborative project involving Econnect, BMT, Corus and the University of Hull. Key suppliers are, Siemens Flender, Bosch Rexroth, Control Techniques and Leroy Somer, with Pulse Tidal delivering on technical side of the project.

When British Secretary of State for Energy John Hutton granted the planning permission for Pulse Tidal’s project in the Humber he said:

“Our continued support for these emerging technologies is essential if the UK is to cement its position as a world leader in marine.

“I have made clear our commitments to renewable energy and to marine technologies. We will be doubling the support available for those technologies under the Renewables Obligation. This kind of tidal project, if proven, will go some way to helping the UK meet its ambitious targets for clean, green energy.

“I wish Pulse Tidal every success in the trials.”

The single 250kW turbine is powerful enough to supply electricity to 100 homes but it paves the way for a significant tidal power development in the Channel Islands in 2009.

The Open-Centre Turbines that are planned to be deployed next year will each be 1MW and OpenHydro will be in a position to build an array of the devices in Alderney.

The Open-Centre Turbine works by converting the movement of water directly into electricity. OpenHydro’s commercial deployments will be mounted on the seabed where no part of the structure will be visible from the surface and will be deep enough not to interfere with shipping traffic.

Looking further ahead the future looks promising for the device with tenders won by OpenHydro to supply and instal turbines in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada and Alderney.

(Artist’s impression of the Open Centre Turbine)

The testing has apparently been successful and engineers are planning a number of new plants in the area. At this point there has been no word on the company involved, the environmental imapcts that have been satisfied, the money it will cost nor even if the project is actually going ahead

A prototype tidal turbine is being prepared for a trial in New Zealand’s Cook Strait. Christchurch company Neptune Power is planning to instal an experimental turbine 4.5km off Wellington’s Island Bay.

The turbine will have a maximum electricity generation capacity of 1MW and the cost of the project will be around $10 million. Approval has been granted by the Greater Wellington Regional Council for the trial that can last up to 10 years.

Reliability testing is currently being performed on the turbine off the Scottish coastline. Rather than fixing the turbine to the ocean floor which would expose it to unexpected and variable conditions, the testing is being achieved with the turbine attached to the front of a boat. This will give the development team exact and accurate results.

At this stage the manufacturers of the turbine have been unnamed, but the turbine will be 14m in diameter and constructed of carbon fibre. The carbon fibre construction will give the turbine three times the generation capacity of a conventional wind turbine according to Neptune Power director Chris Bathurst.

The turbine will be placed in waters known as the “Karori rip”, an area where the tidal current changes orientation from east-west to north-south where Wellington juts into Cook Strait.

“That speeds up the current at that point – a bit like a bend in a river,” Bathurst said.

Power from the trial turbine is expected to be brought ashore at Vector’s Island Bay substation.

According to Bathurst, there is the potential for the extraction of up to 12GW of power from Cook Strait which could be tapped at the cost of several billion dollars. First, though, the testing of 1MW still has to be achieved successfully.

The latest venture is a demonstration project in the Welsh waters that will be backed by renewable energy developer Eco2, who has just invested £150,000 into Tidal Energy Limited as the company moves to have its DeltaStream technology installed. The finance needed by Tidal Energy Limited, which was formerly known as Tidal Hydraulic Generators, to fund the prototype phase of the 12 month operation, will reach £6 million.

Of this financing Eco2 will provide £1 million which has been matched by the Carbon Connections Development Fund.

The DeltaStream energy device is a Tidal Stream energy device that is distinct from other devices in that it does not require fixing to the sea bed. Each DeltaStream energy device is a 1.2MW capacity generator made up of 3 turbines in a triangular frame. The frame itself is comparitvely light which will enable it to be positioned with a minimum of effort. To prevent the DeltaStream from being shifted by the currents it will require some form of ballasting.

The DeltaStream is completely modular meaning the components can be exchanged should one of the devices require repairing. This makes the DeltaStream energy device considerably cheaper to maintain than comparable tidal systems.

Tidal Energy Limited has plans to begin manufacturing the device later in 2008 with a view to beginning full-scale installation in 2009.

David Williams, chief executive of Eco2, said: “This is an important development as it literally takes renewable power generation out of sight, minimising environmental impact, yet harnessing the largely untapped energy resources of the oceans, far more cost effectively than before. We believe this is the most aesthetic and energy efficient solution yet to meeting EU renewable energy targets.”

More information can be found by reading the Carbon Connection DeltaStream Case Study.

Some more Tidal Energy turbines in development around the world

SeaGen at Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland
Tocardo Turbines at Pentland Firth, Scotland
Rotech Tidal Turbines at Wando Hoenggan Waterway, South Korea
Free Flow Turbines at St Lawrence River, Canada