World’s biggest tidal energy ‘kite’ could single-handedly power a small town
World’s biggest tidal energy ‘kite’ could single-handedly power a small town
With a wingspan of 12 metres, the so-called 'Dragon' is expected to generate 1.2MW of clean electricity once operational.
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I always thought that tides were a really underutilized source of energy.
I mean, look at the Bay of Fundy. The equivalent of all the water in all the rivers in the entire world cycles in and out every single day. Thats a lot of movement and a ton of potential energy there.
As the article notes, part of the problem with large-scale operations like this in the past is that they disrupted ocean life to a significant degree; this one is different in that it (theoretically) doesn't, since it's smaller and mobile and not tethered to the seabed.
The article doesn’t say anything about it not being tethered, so I’d assume it still is.
Power is then sent to the grid via a subsea cable which also acts as the kite’s tether.
I'd assume this is less disruptive to sea life than this, which appears to just be a giant bollard with a turbine mounted on it sunk into the seabed.
The sea is very corrosive which destroys moving parts :(
Not many people live there, but W. Australias' Kimberley Coast has a section where the tide rises 36 feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ9kdhVJT0U
Waves big enough to surf arrive.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=mJ9kdhVJT0U
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=loRr97fOWdg
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