Not always available but it is predictable and reliable:
Bay of Fundy is the ideal place to harnessing tidal power:
ââŠfirst time everâŠâ They seem to have missed the Annapolis Royal Generating Station, which has been online for quite some time. Unfortunately, it doesnât make enough power to be truly useful, but it is operational. We got a tour of it a few years ago.
The largest Tidal Power Stations in the world;
As for the âfirstâ or the âbiggestâ tidal power station >>>
Since 1966, the âRance River Power Station, at the Channel Coast of Brittany (France), is still working; capacity 240 MW, annual production 500 GWh.
Pushed and inaugurated by President Charles de Gaulle; for now still the second best purely tidal power station at work, after the 2011 inaugurated thing in South KoreaâŠ
good potential sure but Iâm pretty leary about stuff sitting in salt water very long ⊠maybe I have some prejudice from working on ships??
Scotland has been experimenting and using tidal power generation for several years so they are ahead of the pack in developing this technology. Salt water corrosion does not appear to be an insurmountable issue.
Sorry for reviving this old thread. New development:
Annapolis Royal Tidal Power Station in Nova Scotia went online in 1984 and it was decommissioned in 2019. It produced 20MW, only during the ebb tide.
Environmentalists claimed that it was killing 25% of the shad in the river, and that it trapped two whales and may have killed one of them.
Iâve driven over the causeway several times, but never toured the station.
Maybe not the best example of a Tidal dam and not the first:
But there are other ways of harnessing power from tidal and ocean currents.
Tidal power:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Classification-of-tidal-energy_fig3_264851747
Ocean current power:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Classification-of-ocean-energy_fig2_264851747
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264851747_Harnessing_Ocean_Energy_by_Tidal_Current_Technologies