Tidal barrage

1)The main parts of the tidal barrage are the sluice gates, turbines (connected to generator),boat locks all held inside caissons.They put in embankments into places the caissons are not. The sluice gates are opened and closed at certain times of the day while the tide is heading into the bay or river to fill the tidal basin and once the tidal basin is full the gates are closed and they wait for the ocean tide to go back down again. After the ocean is at low tide the sluice gates are opened up to allow the basin to flow into the ocean while passing through a turbine that powers a generator creating power. After the basin is lower back to the oceans tide level they wait for the tide to be high again and repeat the process. The boat locks are used to make it possible for boats to pass the tidal barrage. Embankments are man-made walls build out of boulders, rocks, dirt or other material to stop the tidal flow going into and out of the bay. Lastly the caisson is the cement walls of the tidal barrage that are water tight blocking the water from passing and holding all of the other parts of the tidal barrage.

 

2) The social implications are that it can only provide power to a select bays or rivers with special tidal currents. The tidal barrage provides a road for people to pass the river or bay so that they can easily and safely pass the river or bay. It also blocks fish from passing so fishermen in smaller countries would not be able to catch fish in that location making it so they would not be able to make a living there and would be forced to move or fined a new spot to fish and make a living. Also, if a less developed country had the proper tides it would be a good way to generate power. This is also not a very fast way of generation power and possible could not generate any large cities. This would also affect people’s navigation and recreation with boating.

 

3)This is a great way to generate power that does not harm our environment as much as fossil fuel powered energy producers or nuclear producers but, it still is harmful to our environment. This method of generating electricity is one of the few that our better for our environment if they are carefully monitored so nothing bad happens. Even though tidal barrages are not very bad for the environment they still affect it so a lot of people will not agree with this form of energy production and want an even less harmful energy producer for the environment.

 

4)The environmental implications are that it still blocks a large body of water, animals, plants and other wildlife inside of the bay and that can be devastating for some species when they have to move for mating or food. This could trap and kill off an entire species if it is not carefully look at before the tidal barrage is put in. The tidal barrage could block species of salmon if it is put on a river and this could destroy an entire species of salmon. Additionally, the tidal barrages estimated to decreases local tides by 15cm.

 

Reflection:

This project turn out very well in my opinion but even though it was pretty good there were still places were I could have improved at. One place I could have improved at was probably the making the model and I could have tried to add a little more detail like making a background to cover the bay/river or I could have put more detail into the tidal barrage itself. Also, I could have spent more time researching to get every bit of detail. Even though there are  many places to improve I am happy with how this project turned out.