BACKGROUND & RESEARCH
Tidal Turbine Design
Since tidal current turbines are still in the early stages of development, little design
information exists, and even less has actually been published. In an effort to gain
as large of a knowledge base as we could, we have read all the public information
that we could find on the subject.
For our use and for anyone else that is interested, we have compiled much of the
important information that we found through our research into tidal turbine design.
Please view our Research Document here.
Our hope for this project is to make our own worthwhile contribution to the industry's
database.
Cost of a Full Scale Tidal Turbine
To demonstrate that tidal stream energy extraction is a
viable option for clean and
renewable energy in Maine, our group has been trying to
determine how much a full
scale installation of tidal turbines would cost at
the more attractive sites available in
the state, such as the Western Passage
near Eastport. We’ll then compare the
economic
feasibility compared to more developed renewable energy sources, such
as wind and solar
power.
Since as students we don’t have any experience on
large scale projects, to try and estimate
how much a full scale tidal turbine
(or an entire “farm” of turbines) would cost, we’ve been
trying to find as many
estimates as we can from outside sources. Here you’ll find a summary
of the publicly available information we’ve
found so far. |
