Wednesday 27 May 2009

Tidal power on the agenda

www.ldpbusiness.co.uk
May 26 2009

FRESH research produced in Liverpool has identified the River Mersey as an ideal location to generate wave power. Engineers at the University of Liverpool and the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory claim that building estuary barrages in the North West could provide more than 5% of the UK's electricity.

A regional tidal energy group involving Port of Liverpool owner Peel and the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) is already involved in studies to determine exactly what type of scheme would be most suitable. Ideas so far looked at include a barrage, giant water wheel or a fence and gate system.

The university's new study determined that four estuary barrages, across the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay and the Mersey and Dee estuaries, could be capable of meeting approximately half of the North West region's electricity needs. Funded by the NWDA, the team investigated different types of tidal power, including barrages - which run from one bank of an estuary to another and guide water flow through sluices and turbines - using advanced two-dimensional computational modelling.

They found that the most effective mode of generating electricity was 'ebb generation', which involves collecting water as the tide comes in and releasing the water back through turbines once the tide has gone out. The barrages would provide substantial sea defence, as well as flood alleviation, by draining the estuary following heavy rainstorms. Electricity generation could also help to achieve the UK's CO2 emission reduction targets.

Professor Richard Burrows, from the Maritime Environmental and Water Systems Research Group, in the University's Department of Engineering, said: "With concerns mounting over the UK's future energy provision, it will soon become paramount that all sources of renewable energy are fully developed. "Unlike the wind, tides are absolutely predictable. The geographical location of the UK, and the seas that surround it, provide a great platform for marine renewable sources.

"The best places to harness tidal power at meaningful scales are areas with a high tidal range such as estuaries. Tidal barrages would alter the natural motion of an estuary's flow as the sea level changes, usually by holding back the water at high tide and then releasing it when the tide has subsided.

"This water level difference across the barrage is sufficient to power turbines for up to 11 hours a day, and, in terms of the four North West barrages, the energy extracted could equate to 5% of the UK's electricity generation needs." Joe Flanagan, head of energy and environmental technologies at the NWDA said: "The regional development agency is pleased to have supported this project, which has provided an important stimulus to the concept of tidal power in England's North West.

"There are a variety of groups and individuals promoting a number of schemes in the region, which have now been brought together under the Northwest Tidal Energy Group. "Building on the work of the Liverpool team, I expect that a number of more detailed feasibility studies of individual schemes will be undertaken in the near future. "Although most of the focus for tidal energy has been in the Severn estuary I would welcome the UK's first major tidal scheme here in the North West."

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