1. The earth, moon, sun and stars all are under the influence of the laws of gravity.

Gravity
causes the waters on the earth to stay on the surface in a body called the ocean. The
gravitational attraction of the moon towards the earth causes the oceans in the earth to
expand towards its direction. As the oceans on one part of the earth is attracted towards the
moon, this causes an equal expansion of the oceans on the other side of the earth. This means
that on both sides of the earth, the oceans expand towards the moon due to its gravitational
pull. This, coupled with the rotation of the earth, causes the production of two tides daily.
Tides are the rise and fall of the level of the oceans due to these gravitational pulls. Due to
the sun, there are two tides that occur in season, spring tides and neap tides. Spring tides
occur when the sun, earth and moon are collinear to each other, as the gravitational pull of
the sun and moon cause the production of the tides. It occurs during the full moon and the
new moon. Neap tides occur when the moon and sun are at right angle to each other, with
reference to the earth. It occurs during the quarter moon. Lunar tide is any tide that occurs
due to the gravitational pull of the moon. Solar tide is any tide that occurs due to the
gravitational pull of the sun. High tide occurs when the oceans’ level rise to their maximum
height. Low tide occurs when the oceans’ waters stop falling.
Figure : Spring and Neap tides
Source:https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/tides/tide-formation-and-
gravitational-pull
Figure : Tides at various times of the day as the earth rotates during a full moon (North Pole
view). The observer’s local time is indicated (note that the person is standing on the equator).
(A) High tide at midnight (B) Low tide at 6:13 a.m. (C) High tide at 12:25 p.m. (D) Low tide
at 6:38 p.m. (E) High tide at 12:50 a.m.
Source:https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/tides/tide-formation-and-
gravitational-pull

Figure : Daily tides

Source: https://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/02/24/how-tides-work

Figure : Daily tides

Source: https://player.slideplayer.com/30/9567954/data/images/img19.jpg
 Figure : High and Low Tides in a Lunar Month

2. La Rance Tidal Barrage Power Station, located in France and completed in 1966, has the
following characteristics:

 It has an installed capacity of 240 MW.

 It is the 2nd largest tidal power station globally, in terms of installed capacity.
 It has 24 turbines
 It supplies 0.012% of France’s power demand.
 It supplies 96 MW on average at a capacity factor of 40%, with an annual output of
about 600 GWh.
 The turbines are 5.35m in diameter, rotate at 93.75rpm, and are rated at 10 MW at a
head of 5.65m.
 The power density is 2.6W/m2, with an electricity cost of €0.12/kWh.
 The barrage is 750m long, the dam is 332.5m long, and the tidal basin is 22.5km2.
 It has a construction cost of ₣620 million.
 It has a tidal range of 8m.
 It is a tidal barrage
3. Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station, located in South Korea and completed in 2011, has the
following characteristics:

 It has an installed capacity of 254 MW.

 It is the largest tidal power station globally, in terms of installed capacity.
 It has 10 turbines
 It supplies 25.4 MW on average at a capacity factor of 24.8%, with an annual output
of about 552 GWh.
 The turbines are 7.5m in runner diameter, rotate at 64.3rpm, a rated discharge of
482.1m3/s, and are rated each at 10 MW at a head of 5.82m.
 The mean operating tidal range is 5.6m, with a spring tidal range of 7.8m, and the
tidal basin is 30km2.
 It has a construction cost of $560 million.
 It is a tidal barrage.
 It generates power twice daily at high tide.

4. Using general information from the web (check a minimum of 3 websites and identify them),
answer the following questions:

a. Typical tidal ranges found on planet earth are:

Micro-tidal ranges (x ≤ 2m)

Meso-tidal ranges (2m ≤ x ≤ 4m)

Macro-tidal ranges (4m ≤ x)

Largest tidal range discovered is 16.3m found in Bay of Fundy, Canada, and the most
common tidal range is 0.6m(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_range). Also, a tidal
range of 15m found in the United Kingdom, tidal range of 8m in Iles Chausey, France
and Ria Coig, Argentina (https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/faq2.html), and a tidal range
of 0.3m in Wake Island in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean(http://www.scienceisart.com/B_Tides/Range.html).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_range,
http://www.scienceisart.com/B_Tides/Range.html,
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/faq2.html

b. Advantages of Tidal Power

 Clean energy and unlimited resource

 No pollution or greenhouse gas emissions
 Consistent source of power
 Electric power generation can occur at low speeds
 The powerplants have a long timespan
 It has a low cost of operation
 Disadvantages of Tidal Power

 It can lead to disruption in the marine animals’ migrations.

 It disrupts the ecosystem
 High cost of construction
 It can only be built in specific sites
 The grid is located far away from the tidal barrage, which filters the communities
that can benefit from tidal power generation.
 It is only useful half a day
The environmental effects of tidal power is that they disrupt and affect the
ecosystem of wildlife. Migration is disturbed, marine animals are killed, loss of
food to predators of fishes, loss of fish breeding sites (reduction in fish
population), pollution of the ocean due to corrosion occurring on the metallic
component parts and lubricants being introduced which leave sediments, etc.

c. Site selection considerations

 Areas with at least 7m tidal range for low cost and reasonable low head of water.
 Size of the barrage required
 Gibrat ratio = length of barrage (m) / annual energy production (kWh). Low
Gibrat ratio is desired.
 Maximum spring current greater than 2m/s
 Minimum depth greater than 15m
 Accessibility to infrastructure
 Distance to the coast
 Proximity to the grid
 Not choosing marine protected area (MPA) such as Natural Site-SAC (Special
Areas of Conservation), Natural Site-SPA (Special Protection Areas), SSS(Sites
of Special Scientific Interest).
 Suitability to marine environment
 Silt index of water

d. The worldwide potential of tidal power generation in the future is increasing as more
tidal power stations are being built, especially offshore as their benefits are numerous.
With its predictability and its ability to operate at full capacity, tidal energy is being
adopted increasingly. New technologies are being researched into and developed, for
power harnessing as more countries are looking into adopting tidal power generation.
5. A tidal power facility consists of a 40 square mile estuary with a 1200-meter combination
dam and power facility built across the entrance. The difference between high and low tides
is on average 10-meters. (Explain steps, start with energy eq. and CV, list assumptions,
include detailed discussions/comments).

a. Determine the total change in water volume and mass in the estuary between high and
low tide.

b. If turbines can extract 35% of the potential energy resulting from the 10-meter tide level
swing, how many joules can be extracted during a high to low tide swing? Caution:
center of gravity is 5m.

c. What is the average power production (MW) if high tides occur every 12 hours? If this
tidal power plant operates during both inflow and outflow, what is its rated capacity
(MW)? Note: 1 W=1 J/s.
6. Pumped Storage is a method used to store and generate energy by moving water between two
reservoirs at different elevations. There are open loop and closed loop systems. Its purpose is
to provide energy-balancing, stability, storage capacity, and grid services.

An example is the Bath County Pumped Storage Station. The Bath County is located in
Virginia, USA. It has a maximum generation capacity of 3GW, overall efficiency of 79%,
storage capacity of 11hrs (24,000MWh), with a hydraulic head of 385m, and a construction
cost of $3.82 billion. It uses an embarkment dam at a height of 140m, and length of 670m.

Pumped Storage is similar to tidal and hydropower in that they all are dependent on running
water as a resource for power generation. Hydropower focuses on the potential energy
generated from the high head of running water controlled by dams, in which water is pumped
from a higher reservoir to a lower reservoir. Tidal power focuses on the kinetic energy
generated from the running water. Pumped storage generates potential energy from the
running water similar to hydropower, but it pumps water from a lower reservoir to a higher
reservoir.

Southwest Research Institute plans to develop a closed loop pumped storage hydropower in
West Texas at Big Mesa (between Interstate Highway and Bakersfield town), King Mountain
Site (McCamey), and Indian Mesa (Stockton Plateau in Iraan).