We know that there are different types of renewable energy. From tidal energy and thermal energy, the tidal energy. It is known as the conversion of thermal and ocean energy. It is a type of renewable energy whose operating principle is based on the difference in temperatures that exists between deep waters and those closest to the surface.
In this article we are going to tell you all the characteristics, origin and importance of tidal energy.
Key features
It is a type of renewable energy that is based on the difference in temperatures that exist between deep waters and those closest to the surface. Normally, the deeper waters tend to have a lower temperature and the waters closer to the surface are warm. In this way, with this difference in temperatures it is possible to move a heat engine and produce useful work. Through this work of movement of the heat engine electricity is generated in a clean renewable way.
An advantage that tidal wave energy has over other is that it can operate 24 hours a day. It does not depend on wind or solar conditions. The heat engine that we must see this energy through the difference in temperatures are cyclical mechanisms. Said mechanisms receive heat from a hot source in order to produce net work and remove heat to a low-temperature heat sink. The greater the temperature difference between the highest layer and the lowest layer of water, the greater the source of energy conversion.
Operation of tidal energy
What is happening today with conventional fossil fuels is that they are becoming increasingly expensive and less available. Therefore, numerous efforts are being made to be able to improve thermal efficiency to be able to operate with few high temperature thermals. Another technique includes the use of combined cycles and cogeneration that are capable of transforming a greater fraction of the input energy into useful work and, subsequently, into electricity.
The advantage of the conversion of thermal energy from the ocean is that it can include a cheap energy source that has unlimited availability. Unlike what happens with wind energy or solar energy, tidal energy can always be available. In this way, it would be possible to have attractive thermal machines that could operate between heat sources that have temperature differences large enough to be able to generate electricity.
The device used to convert the ocean's heat energy is a heat engine. Said machine was built to be able to operate between a relatively good temperature and a lower temperature. The temperature closest to the surface of the ocean is warmer than that of the depths. If we are going to practice, for energy conversion to be profitable, there must be a temperature difference between the most beautiful the surface and the deep one of about 20 degrees.
In order to achieve this temperature difference, one must look for geographic regions of the ocean surface that are heated by the sun and where the average temperature is about 30 degrees. In this way, we guarantee that the temperature at a depth of 900 meters will be 5 degrees.
Tidal wave energy zones
We are going to see which are the areas where the greatest amount of tidal energy can be generated. Areas located in the tropics tend to have a greater variation in sea temperature as a function of depth. Let's see what the temperatures are as a function of the surface:
- Surface temperature: it usually happens about 200 meters thick and acts as a heat collector. Here temperatures tend to be around 25-30 degrees.
- Intermedia: it is located between 200-400 meters deep and has a rapid variation in temperature. This rapid temperature variation serves as a thermal barrier between the depths and the surface layers.
- Deep: the temperature only decreases until it reaches 4 degrees at 1000 meters and 2 degrees at 5000 meters.
In tropical seas there is a large temperature difference between the surface and a depth of 1000 meters. As we have mentioned before, in order to make economically efficient this process will require a difference of the order of 20 degrees. With this difference in temperatures, energy can be harnessed to drive a heat engine. These regions only exist in latitudes close to the Equator, being located in the regions of the Pacific Ocean. There are also some perfect areas for this, such as the east and west of Central America and some remote areas of the southern coast of the United States and east of Florida.
Market introduction
To date, almost all the proposals that exist in the world on tidal wave energy have not made the leap. And the fact is that there is still no experimental prototype for commercial plants as with wind energy. The costs are quite large and cannot be managed well yet. You just have to think that the cables that go out to sea would be in charge of conducting the energy to the mainland. It must be taken into account that the seabed is a corrosive environment that may be deteriorating the cables continuously.
There are many companies that are focused on the development of new and efficient solutions to be able to take advantage of the potential that tidal energy has. There is nothing else to think about that it can be unlimited and renewable energy. It is just a matter of thinking about how to make this type of energy efficient and economically profitable. An energy that does not pollute, limited and renewable over time. Just think about it.
As you can see, tidal wave energy is one of the renewable energies that is under development but has a lot of potential for the future of clean energy. I hope that with this information you can learn more about tidal energy and how it works.