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Moontide Lights Homes
on the Arctic Tip of Norway
By Margot B
Homes on the Arctic tip of Norway started
getting power from the moon on Saturday via a unique
sub-sea power station at Kvalsund Sound, driven by
the rise and fall of the tide...known as 'The Blue
Concept'.
(PRWEB) September 22 2003--Homes on
the Arctic tip of Norway started getting power from
the moon on Sept 20 via a unique sub-sea power station
known as 'The Blue Concept', at Kvalsund Sound, driven
by the rise and fall of the tide...near the town of
Hammerfest.
The tidal current caused by the gravitational
tug of the moon on the earth, started turning the
10-metre blades of the turbine, which is bolted to
the sea-bed to generate electricity for the local
grid.
The prototype looks like an underwater
windmill and is expected to generate about 700,000
kilowatt hours of non-polluting energy a year or,
according to the national TV station, NRK, enough
to light and heat about 75 households and they expect
to double this figure in the commercial version.
"This is the first time in the
world that electricity from a tidal current has been
fed into a power grid," Harald Johansen, managing
director of Hammerfest Stroem which has led the project,
said.
The plant in the Kvalsund channel,
which had cost about 80 million crowns [$11 million
by launch time, is a tiny contributor to help cut
dependence on fossil fuels like oil and gas blamed
for global warming.
The water flows at about 2.5 m per
second for about six hours when the tide is rising
through the Kvalsund channel, pauses at high tide
and then reverses direction. The tide is 12 hours
total per day, with 6 hours rising, 6 hours falling,
six hours rising, six hours falling. The blades on
the turbine automatically turn to face the current.
A challenge in a tidal environment
is that access becomes difficult. Accordingly, the
mills are given a modular design, allowing all critical
components to be lifted out of the water in one operation
for maintenance and repair. These module systems are
adopted from the offshore and shipping industries.
In contrast to wind that may come from almost any
direction, tidal currents move only back and forth,
unless the strait is very wide. By rotating the propeller
blades around their own axis at slack water when the
current turns, the mill is ready for the reversing
current ["pitch control". Thus the nacelle
of a tidal mill with pitch control can remain fixed,
while the windmill nacelle needs to be rotated into
the direction of the veering wind.
To determine whether the tidal power plant will have
any significant negative impact on the marine environment
which might require special measures to preserve the
eco-systems, Hammerfest Strøm AS has initiated
co-operation with the consulting company Akvaplan
NIVA and The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.
Another important part of this cooperation
is to predict possible adverse biological impacts
on the installations, such as reduced efficiency and/or
corrosion due to fouling.
If successful, the project could put
to far wider use the predictable tides in green energy
and generate millions of dollars in orders.
Windmills, by contrast, are not as
efficient because they are useless in calm weather
and have to be built to withstand hurricane-force
winds.
###
Sources:
http://www.e-tidevannsenergi.com/
REUTERS[ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2003
11:33:29 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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