Marine Energy is another alternative energy where it uses the waves and tidal currents to produce electricity. There are two different types of marine energy: tidal energy and wave energy. Tidal energy is the use of gravitational influences from the sun and the moon, because of this tidal energy does not get affected by the changes in climate weather patterns or sea levels. On the other hand, wave energy uses the wind passing over the surface of the ocean. As of right now, Canada doesn’t have any active plans for wave energy, but there is focus on tidal energy in Nova Scotia and British Columbia as well.
Tidal energy uses in-stream devices or barrages, where in-stream devices are similar to an underwater windmill. The underwater windmill uses the flow of the tides to create electricity. Barrages are similar to hydropower dams where the water flows through tunnels and generates electricity. Currently in Canada, the Bay of Fundy located in Nova Scotia, is in the process of getting in-stream tidal turbines to harness the energy found in the tidal waves.
The Bay of Fundy has the “highest tides in the world”11 where there’s over 5 meters of water per second, and also gets 160 tones of seawater flowing in. The Bay of Fundy has adopted a research center called FORCE for in-stream tidal energy. Its said that the best thing with tidal energy is that it will always be renewable and will always be able to predict the moment of the tides at any point of time.
The second form of energy is wave energy. Wave energy captures energy from the surface waves. When wind gets blown across the ocean surface, that energy gets transferred to the waves which results in the amount of energy depending on “wave speed, height, and water density”12. Wave energy technologies can be developed “near-shore, offshore or far offshore locations”13.
Marine energy is a great alternative energy for people who may be living near the sea. Wave energy and tidal energy both seem to be promising for the future for electricity and a sustainable country. Even though wave and tidal energy have some challenges, it still is attainable to overcome those challenges and provide Canada with many different forms of energy.
Tidal energy uses in-stream devices or barrages, where in-stream devices are similar to an underwater windmill. The underwater windmill uses the flow of the tides to create electricity. Barrages are similar to hydropower dams where the water flows through tunnels and generates electricity. Currently in Canada, the Bay of Fundy located in Nova Scotia, is in the process of getting in-stream tidal turbines to harness the energy found in the tidal waves.
The Bay of Fundy has the “highest tides in the world”11 where there’s over 5 meters of water per second, and also gets 160 tones of seawater flowing in. The Bay of Fundy has adopted a research center called FORCE for in-stream tidal energy. Its said that the best thing with tidal energy is that it will always be renewable and will always be able to predict the moment of the tides at any point of time.
The second form of energy is wave energy. Wave energy captures energy from the surface waves. When wind gets blown across the ocean surface, that energy gets transferred to the waves which results in the amount of energy depending on “wave speed, height, and water density”12. Wave energy technologies can be developed “near-shore, offshore or far offshore locations”13.
Marine energy is a great alternative energy for people who may be living near the sea. Wave energy and tidal energy both seem to be promising for the future for electricity and a sustainable country. Even though wave and tidal energy have some challenges, it still is attainable to overcome those challenges and provide Canada with many different forms of energy.
Benefits of Marine Energy:
Water is a renewable resource and is known as green energy because it doesn’t depend on fossil fuels so therefore tidal energy does not release any pollutants into the atmosphere. There are low operating costs once it’s constructed and it can work without any supervision. It has a long expected life span, which works up until 100 years until some damage may happen. From using in-stream turbines, it does not force fish to pass through the turbines which doesn’t place any harm on them. |
Challenges with Marine Energy:
Tidal energy is expensive to build, as there is a lot of durable heavy weight equipment needed that will ensure it’ll stay secured in one piece when it is on the ocean floor. Another challenge is that tidal energy is very location specific, you must have good tidal currents coming to shore in order to successful get enough electricity to power light. Lastly, the device could breakdown due to the high currents and sea weather which “increases the operational cost of the plant”14. |
In-stream device11
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