Ramsey Sound tidal turbine installed

savageseadog said:
£16m for 400KW max output?

Tidal power is the most expensive going at around 3 to 8 times cost of natural gas per generated KWH.
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If I recall correctly, along with the Strangford Loch one these tidal machines are experimental, intended to build expertise and test ideas. The Ramsey Sound one appears to have been launched with only one of three turbines installed, which accounts for the projected increase in output at a later stage.

So far as additional turbulence is concerned it will be like a fart in a hurricane in Ramsey Sound.
 
jamie N said:
In many areas where wind farms are located, there are also some quite hefty currents. Whilst ROVing during the installation phase, I've wondered why there wasn't a tidal generator located around seabed level on the tower? A large proportion of the cost of a windfarm is the cabling, control platform and infrastructure, thus in a number of these places it could've been a logical step.[/QUOTE]

Your last few words explains why it never happened. Ever wondered why the likes of BP invest so much in solar and wind promotion? They know it's fundamentally unreliable and so the world retains its need for fossil fuels. Now if BP had invested the same R&D in tidal power generation...damn they'd be out of business in 50 years. Or have a thriving alternative business. But that's not how big corps work - keep flogging the donkey you have.
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Colvic Watson said:
jamie N said:
In many areas where wind farms are located, there are also some quite hefty currents. Whilst ROVing during the installation phase, I've wondered why there wasn't a tidal generator located around seabed level on the tower? A large proportion of the cost of a windfarm is the cabling, control platform and infrastructure, thus in a number of these places it could've been a logical step.[/QUOTE]

Your last few words explains why it never happened. Ever wondered why the likes of BP invest so much in solar and wind promotion? They know it's fundamentally unreliable and so the world retains its need for fossil fuels. Now if BP had invested the same R&D in tidal power generation...damn they'd be out of business in 50 years. Or have a thriving alternative business. But that's not how big corps work - keep flogging the donkey you have.
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So, 'big oil' have, according to your perception of reality, turned down the chance to become world leaders in an industry which could be hugely successful and profitable.
Perhaps you dislike wind turbines because you live in fear of a passing blade scopping the tinfoil helmet off your head?

Seriously, though, I would have thought a forum full of yachties would understand better than most just how hard/expensive it is to operate complex systems in a sub-marine environment.
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I think there is a huge potential for tidal power generation, particularly around the Scottish coast. Some places, like a barrage at the Falls of Lora, could make a huge contribution. The snag about barrage systems in places like that, is that they prevent free navigation. That leaves sub-sea turbines, which though not as powerful or efficient, get their power from a totally predictable source. I see them having a big future.
 
Kelpie said:
Seriously, though, I would have thought a forum full of yachties would understand better than most just how hard/expensive it is to operate complex systems in a sub-marine environment.
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... whereas I would have thought that the ideas of a forum full of yachties would immediately have turned to tidal or wave power before anything else.

Mike
 
Colvic Watson said:
Your last few words explains why it never happened. Ever wondered why the likes of BP invest so much in solar and wind promotion? They know it's fundamentally unreliable and so the world retains its need for fossil fuels. Now if BP had invested the same R&D in tidal power generation...damn they'd be out of business in 50 years. Or have a thriving alternative business. But that's not how big corps work - keep flogging the donkey you have.
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Your cynicism is perhaps understandable and is a popular view, but untrue. Just before I retired from Shell I was part of a team looking at wind power, in which Shell has investments. I ascended a turbine in northern Holland and compiled a report into its maintainability. Not very long after that Shell withdrew from its involvement in the Thames wind farm on the basis that the profit margins were too small. I would like to think that my report played some part in the decision. No doubt BP's philosophy is not too far off the same. Wind turbines are highly unreliable by comparison with offshore production and refinery equipment and horrendously expensive to maintain and repair. The input of major operators such as the oil companies may help to improve reliability and reduce costs.
 
I am told that if one goes to America one can see loads of windmills just going rotten & blighting the landscape.

Still I suppose one could say the same for the Gunfleet old lighthouse.
But somehow I rather like that.
Does that mean that one day people might be attracted to a knackered old stump stuck on the Longsands catching cobwebs?
 
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