Investigation of the Different Power Plant Operating - Dissertation Example

They will supply electricity for at least three future generations without any fuel being consumed since the tidal energy comes from the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. While fossil-fuel plants fill the atmosphere with the greenhouse gas carbon-di-oxide and nuclear power plants produce radioactive waste carrying the risk of contamination, tidal power plants are free from greenhouse emissions and are non-polluting. The UK has abundant tidal resources ranging from the Severn Estuary to Solway Firth and Mersey estuaries totaling 42 sites.

According to NATTA, The tidal barrage potential of the UK is around 20% of its total energy requirements while another 19% of the total energy requirements can be supplied by tidal current power plants. A single barrage at Severn Estuary would provide 6% of UK power needs by generating 8000MW of electricity out of the 3000GW of tidal power that can be extracted globally. As per another source, at least 5% of UK electricity needs can be supplied from tidal range sources, and another 5% power can be obtained from tidal stream technologies to total 10% of its energy requirements from tidal resources.

Tidal range resources are abundant at Severn, Mersey, and Humber while tidal stream resources are available in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Channel Islands(SDC,2007,p5). The Severn Estuary tidal range resource alone would be able to generate 17TWh annually while the tidal stream resources at Pentland Skerries and Stroma at Pentland Firth can supply 3.9 TWh and 2.8TWh per year respectively.Tidal energy technology will help the UK government to achieve its twin energy policy objectives of tackling climate change by reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and ensuring secure, clean, and affordable energy while the country gets increasingly dependent on imported fuels(SDC,2007,p28).

By displacing output from fossil-fuelled power plants, the electricity from tidal energy will make a significant contribution to the UK government's energy targets. The variability from tidal energy can be accommodated by upgrading the grid network.