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That's very little head. Does anybody have the engineering data on these projects? Have they built a smaller installation to prove the concept?

Head height is a major factor in hydro power installations.



There are some technical details about flow rates and head height in section 4.8 (p. 85/88) of this document:

http://tidallagoon.opendebate.co.uk/files/TidalLagoon/DCO_Ap...

One other thing I noticed upon briefly skimming is they're considering installing turbines which can also be used as pumps. I suppose in principle, at the cycle of the tide when the head is low and the plant isn't producing power, you could use the same facility as pumped storage.

There's also a rather florid promotional video here, if anyone's interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEmHDQtXnw


> Have they built a smaller installation to prove the concept?

Tidal lagoon / barrage power generation is already a thing, so the concept is well proven.

> Does anybody have the engineering data on these projects?

This paper covers the maths: http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/Lago... (while also exploring ways to increase head above tidal range).


Here's a proof of concept built around 620AD. Obviously a bit different but this type of technology has been around a long time. http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/harnessing-th...


Here's a very readable quantitative discussion about tidal power generation in the UK:

http://www.withouthotair.com/c14/page_81.shtml


Almost simultaneous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9130893 (9 points, 3 hours ago, 2 comments)

The link is: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31682529

And chisb put a additional link to: http://www.tidallagoonswanseabay.com/proposal-overview-and-v...

They have a little more information.


Here's the operating sequence: http://i.imgur.com/y9IJ5Ip.png

Looks like for most of the power generation phase the head will be about 5m. According to their paper generation is effective down to about 1.5m


The plant in Somerset will be on the Severn Estuary, which has a tidal range of 15m:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Estuary




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