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Marine energy
The alternatives to produce more environmentally friendly energy are there, you just need to take advantage of them and start considering viable actions that, thanks to technology, are becoming more profitable such as electricity that we can produce by the marine energy.
We are talking about the energy that we can extract from the seas, remembering that 70% of the planet is occupied by water, with 97% coming from the seas and oceans. So most countries in the world have coasts to start take advantage of the water of the seas to obtain energy.
Our seas and oceans offer a vast source of renewable energy, but not only, along the Atlantic coast as indicated from the European Union. Currently, technologies of ocean energy to exploit the potential of tides and waves.
Although the video mainly talks about turbines that harness the currents of the oceans and seas to produce energy, It must be considered that there are different types of systems and facilities that can be used. So let's see them …
What types of marine energy are there?
There are highly distinguished technologies, depending on the use of energy and how they work:
- The tidal wave.
- Energy of currents.
- Tidal energy.
- Wave energies or wave energy.
- Salt gradient energy (osmotic).
1.- Tidal energy
It focuses on taking advantage of the descent and ascent of sea water and its currents before the gravitational action of the Moon and the Sun to generate electricity in a clean way, although only in those points of the coast where the high sea and the low differ more than 5 meters in height it is profitable to install a tidal power station.
A project of a tidal power station It is based on the storage of water in a reservoir that is formed by building a dam with gates that allow the entry of water or flow to be turned into a bay, cove, river or estuary for electricity generation.
The Seawater energy They have the advantage of operating in a bi-directional way, that is, electricity can be produced both with the entry of water in the water entry cycle - flow, and in the eject - ebb cycle.
2.- Energy of currents
It consists of the harnessing the kinetic energy contained in ocean currents. The capture process is based on kinetic energy converters related to wind turbines using subsea installations.
3.- Tidal wave
It is based on the use of thermal energy from the sea based on the temperature difference between the sea surface and deep water. To clarify concepts we can see the following scheme of how a central works tidal wave:
The use of this kind of energy requires that the thermal gradient be at least 20º. The tidal wave plants convert thermal energy into electrical energy using the thermodynamic cycle called "Rankine cycle" whose hot focus is water from the sea surface and the cold focus is water from the depths.
4.- Wave energy or wave energy
It is the energy use produced by the wave movement. The swell is a consequence of the friction of the air on the surface of the sea, which is very irregular. This has led to the construction of multiple types of machines to make their use possible. In the following infographic of "Wave energy" we can see the process of obtaining electricity.
We can see more information from infographics of renewables and their characteristics in case there is interest in further information.
5.- Osmotic Power
The Osmotic Power or blue energy, is the energy obtained by the difference in the concentration of salt between sea water and river water through osmosis processes.
What are the advantages of marine energy?
- It is a renewable resource and within a standard, it is constant in energy production.
- Aside from being a renewable energy source, of course, one of the main advantages of marine energy It is that it is not polluting, with reference to the fact that it does not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
- It is silent and due to its characteristics it is not located in populated areas.
- Depending on the type of installation, it must be taken into account that water is a thousand times thicker than air, it is possible to produce electricity at low speed. Even at speeds of 1 m / s energy can be achieved.
What are the downsidesmarine energy?
- Most countries do not have adequate and pertinent legislation proposing specific regulation for marine power plants.
- It is a relatively new source of energy and the studies of its cumulative impacts on the ecosystems that are located have not been deeply studied.
- It must be taken into account that the construction of the power plants does not differ as much in cost as other renewable ones used on the surface, but the maintenance of these, due to the circumstances of location, is more expensive.
- They need a specific location. Depending on the type of facilities, they need to be built near the mainland, which is where the most marked differences between tides occur, and this has a visual impact, occupation of coastal areas … etc.
- It depends on the amplitude of the tides.
We recall the article on offshore wind energy in Europe that doubles in a year so that we begin to be aware that other countries are already beginning a very promising career in waters much more unstable than those of Spain.
We can also check the latest news from Ocean Energy Europe, which is the largest network of ocean energy professionals of the world. More than 120 organizations, including Europe's leading utility, industrial and research institutes.
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