2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
The waters of the oceans hide innumerable riches, the main of which, perhaps, are unlimited sources of energy in the form of sea waves. For the first time, the use of the kinetic energy of shafts rolling ashore was thought about in the 18th century in Paris, where the first patent for a wave mill was presented. Now technology has stepped far forward, and the first commercial wave power plant was created by the joint efforts of scientists, which began to operate in 2008.
Why is it beneficial?
It's no secret that natural resources are on the verge of depletion. The reserves of coal, oil and gas - the main energy sources - are coming to an end. According to the most optimistic forecasts of scientists, the reserves will be enough for 150-300 years of life. Nuclear energy also failed to live up to expectations. High power and productivity pay off the costs of construction, operation, but the problems of waste disposal and environmental damage will soon force them to be abandoned. For these reasons, scientists are looking for new alternative energy sources. Now alreadywind and solar power plants operate. But for all their advantages, they have a significant drawback - low efficiency. It will not be possible to satisfy the needs of the entire population. Therefore, new solutions are needed.
To generate electricity, a wave power plant uses the kinetic energy of waves. According to the most conservative estimates, this potential is estimated at 2 million MW, which is comparable to 1000 nuclear power plants operating at full capacity, and about 75 kW / m3 per meter of wave front. There is absolutely no harmful effect on the environment.
General scheme of work
Wave power plants are floating structures that are capable of converting the mechanical energy of wave movement into electrical energy and transmitting it to the consumer. At the same time, they try to use two sources:
- Kinetic reserves. Marine shafts pass through a large diameter pipe and rotate the blades, which transmit force to the electric generator. The pneumatic principle is also applied - water, penetrating into a special chamber, displaces oxygen from there, which is redirected through a system of channels and rotates the turbine blades.
- Rolling energy. In this case, the wave power plant acts as a float. Moving in space along with the profile of the wave, it makes the turbine rotate through a complex system of levers.
Different countries use their own technology to convert the mechanical movement of waves into electricity, but the gener althey have the same scheme of action.
Disadvantages of wave power plants
The main obstacle to the widespread introduction of wave power plants is their cost. Due to the complex design and complex installation on the surface of sea waters, the costs of putting such installations into operation are higher than for the construction of a nuclear power plant or thermal power plant.
In addition, there are a number of other shortcomings, which are mainly associated with the emergence of socio-economic problems. The thing is that large float stations create a danger and interfere with navigation and fishing - a float wave power plant can simply force a person out of fishing areas. There are also possible environmental consequences. The use of installations significantly extinguishes sea waves, makes them smaller and prevents them from breaking ashore. Meanwhile, waves play an important role in the process of gas exchange in the ocean, cleansing its surface. All this can lead to a shift in the ecological balance.
Positive aspects of wave power plants
Along with the disadvantages, a wave power plant also has a number of advantages that have a positive impact on human activities:
- installations, due to the fact that they extinguish wave energy, can protect coastal structures (piers, ports) from destruction by the force of the ocean;
- Electricity is generated at minimal cost;
- high wave power makes wind farms more economically viable than wind or solar power plants.
Energy reserves are also possessed by land waters, mainly rivers. The construction of stations on bridges, crossings, piers is a prospect for the development of this area of electricity generation.
Problems to be solved
The main task facing the scientific community now is to improve the design, which will reduce the cost of electricity generated by wave power plants. The principle of operation should remain the same, but new technologies and materials will be used to create installations.
The average power of the wave is 75-85 kW / m - this is the range that most stations are tuned to. However, during a storm, the strength of sea waves increases several times and there is a danger of destruction of installations. Already more than one blade was crumpled or bent after a storm. To solve this problem, scientists artificially reduce the specific power of the waves. One of the problems is that the massive use of wave stations will lead to climate change. The generation of electrical energy is carried out due to the rotation of the Earth (this is how waves are formed). The widespread use of stations will cause the planet to rotate more slowly. A person will not feel the difference, but this will destroy a number of currents that play an important role in the Earth's heat exchange.
The world's first experimental WPP
The first wave power plant appeared in 1985 in Norway. Its power was 500 kW, and she herselfwas a prototype. Its operating principle is based on cyclic compression and expansion of the medium:
- a cylinder with an open bottom is immersed in water so that its edge is below the hollow of the wave - its lowest point;
- periodically incoming water compresses the air in the internal cavity;
- when a certain pressure is reached, a valve opens, which allows compressed oxygen to pass to the turbine.
This power plant produced 500 kW of energy, which was enough to confirm the effectiveness of the installations, which contributed to their development.
The world's first industrial power plant
The world's first industrial-scale installation is Oceanlinx offshore Port Kemble, Australia. It was put into operation in 2005, but then was sent for reconstruction and started working again in 2009, which is why both tidal and wave power plants are now used in the region. Its operating principle is as follows:
- Waves periodically run into special chambers, causing the air to compress.
- When the critical pressure is reached, the compressed air rotates the electric generator through a network of channels.
- To capture the movement and force of the waves, the turbine blades change their angle of inclination.
The capacity of the installation was about 450 kW, although each section of the station is capable of delivering from 100 kWh to 1.5 MWh of electrical energy.
The world's first commercial wind farm
The first commercial wave power plantAppointment earned in 2008 in Agusador, Portugal. Moreover, it is the first installation in the world that directly uses the mechanical energy of the wave. The project was prepared by the English company Pelamis Wave Power.
The structure includes several sections that are released and rise along with the wave profile. The sections are hinged to the hydraulic system and actuate it during movement. The hydraulic mechanism causes the generator rotor to rotate, due to which electricity is generated. Wave power plants used in Portugal have pluses and minuses. The advantage of the installation is its high power - about 2.25 MW, as well as the possibility of installing additional sections. There is only one drawback of installing the system - there are difficulties with the transmission of electrical energy through wires to the consumer.
The first wave power plant in Russia
In Russia, the first wind farm appeared in 2014 in the Primorsky Territory. The development was carried out by a team of scientists from the Ural Federal University and the Pacific Oceanological Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The installation is experimental. Its peculiarity is that it uses the energy of not only waves, but also tides.
In Moscow, it is planned to build a research laboratory that will develop and create the first domestic float station. Perhaps, after that, wave power plants in Russia will also have an industrial or commercial purpose.
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