The Fact of Wave Power Plant

 Introduction  
Ocean waves are caused by the wind as it blows across the sea. Waves are a powerful source of energy.
The problem is that it's not easy to harness this energy and convert it into electricity in large amounts. Thus, wave power stations are rare.
Waves are a powerful source of energy, the problem is harnessing it. (c) Freefoto.com
 How it works
There are several methods of getting energy from waves.
One of them works like a swimming pool wave machine in reverse.
At a swimming pool, air is blown in and out of a chamber beside the pool, which makes the water outside bob up and down, causing waves.

At a wave power station, the waves arriving cause the water in the chamber to rise and fall, which means that air is forced in and out of the hole in the top of the chamber.
We place a turbine in this hole, which is turned by the air rushing in and out.
The turbine turns a generator.
A problem with this design is that the rushing air can be very noisy, unless a silencer is fitted to the turbine.
The noise is not a huge problem anyway, as the waves make quite a bit of noise themselves.

Example:
A company called SINN Power based in Germany uses a simpler, modular approach - which means that the system is easier to make and is made of units, and you can install as many units as you need.
Find out more at www.sinnpower.com
Video Clip: Wave Energy Converter Arrays

Example:
Another company is called Renewable Energy Holdings. Their idea for generating wave power (called "CETO") uses underwater equipment on the sea bed near the coast. Waves passing across the top of the unit make a piston move, which pumps seawater to drive generators on land.
They're also involved with wind power and biofuel.
CETO wave power generation		Video Clip: CETO

Example:
The Oyster wave energy device
The action of the waves moves the device, pumping hydraulic fluid to a shore station to drive a generator.
 More
More ideas about how to extract energy from waves are being proposed all the time. This page only shows a few examples.
Once you've built a wave power station, the energy is free, needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution.
One big problem is that of building and anchoring something that can withstand the roughest conditions at sea, yet can generate a reasonable amount of power from small waves. It's not much use if it only works during storms!

 Advantages  
  • The energy is free - no fuel needed, no waste produced.
  • Not expensive to operate and maintain.
  • Can produce a great deal of energy.
 Disadvantages
  • Depends on the waves - sometimes you'll get loads of energy, sometimes almost nothing.
  • Needs a suitable site, where waves are consistently strong.
  • Some designs are noisy. But then again, so are waves, so any noise is unlikely to be a problem.
  • Must be able to withstand very rough weather.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wanna Know More with British Petroleum ( BP )

Image
BP plc   (formerly   The British Petroleum Company plc   and   BP Amoco plc ) is a British   multinational   oil   and   gas   company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the world's seven oil and gas " supermajors ", whose performance in 2012 made it the world's sixth-largest oil and gas company, the sixth-largest energy company by   market capitalization   and the   company with the world's 12th-largest revenue (turnover) .   It is a   vertically integrated   company operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry, including   exploration   and   production ,   refining ,   distribution and marketing ,   petrochemicals ,   power generation   and   trading . It also has   renewable energy   interests in   biofuels ,   wind power . and   solar technology . As of 31 December 2018, BP had operations in nearl...
Read more

Big Risk : Nuclear Power Plant

Image
Nuclear power plants are a type of power plant that use the process of nuclear fission in order to generate electricity. They do this by using nuclear reactors in combination with the Rankine cycle, where the heat generated by the reactor converts water into steam, which spins a turbine and a generator. Nuclear power provides the world with around 11% of its total electricity, with the largest producers being the United States and France. Aside from the source of heat, nuclear power plants are very similar to coal-fired power plants. However, they require different safety measures since the use of nuclear fuel has vastly different properties from coal or other fossil fuels. They get their thermal power from splitting the nuclei of atoms in their reactor core, with uranium being the dominant choice of fuel in the world today. Thorium also has potential use in nuclear power production, however it is not currently in use. Below is the basic operation of a boiling water power plant,...
Read more

Keep in Touch with Biomass Power Plant

Image
PNG Biomass grows up to 10 million seedlings a year in nurseries in the Markham Valley in Papua New Guinea. They will generate 30 MW of electrical power by growing the seedlings into trees, processing the timber logs into woodchips, and burning them in a biomass power plant. Process The seedlings are planted over 16,000 hectares of plantations to grow for 5 to 8 years to mature into trees. While the trees grow they absorb from the atmosphere Carbon Dioxide through the process of photosynthesis. Mature trees are harvested, debarked, and loaded as tree logs onto trucks. Tree logs are then transported to a centrally located power plant site. Tree logs are processed on site into wood chips to fuel our biomass power plant. Wood chips are channelled into the combustion chamber through a conveyor system and burned to heat water in the boiler. The burning wood chips release stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, remaining ash is used as plantation fertiliser an...
Read more