Strangford Lough, a large inlet on the coast of Northern Ireland is close to the location where Game of Thrones is filmed. It is also the site of a tidal and ocean current power plant called Deep Green.
Deep Green is essentially an underwater kite consisting of a wing and a turbine which are secured to the seabed with a tether and moves quickly in a figure 8-shaped path in a tidal or ocean current. The hydrodynamic principle upon which this technology is based allows for the kite to move at speeds of up to ten times that of the flow of water it is operating in. This marine power plant is a unique approach to cost-efficiently producing electricity from slow tidal currents.
There are many more sites with low velocity tidal and ocean currents than there are with strong currents so such technology greatly increases the potential for ocean energy. Slow currents are also much easier and less costly to work in resulting in a cost-efficiency that is comparable with conventional energy sources.
Deep Green has been operating since October 2013 and continues to improve with a variety of enhancements. A commercial-scale 0.5 MW version will be installed off the coast of Wales in 2017 and that will ultimately be extended to a 10 MW array.
Marine energy has long been viewed with much skepticism despite its great potential. But if one compares the status of offshore wind technology 20 years ago when it was first getting going with its position today in Europe and other places, one can easily imagine a similar trajectory for ocean power.
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Web Links
Reflections from Breakthrough Marine Energy Trials
Photo, posted August 20,2009, courtesy of Ardfern/Wikimedia via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.