Gravity as an Energy Source

[Pal]

[Ein~+ein]

Building additional locks on busy waterways just for this purpose simply for isn't practical. A simpler and more effective option would be to forget about the vessel and just place generator turbines in the water intake and exit ports for each and every lock. How many locks have this?

That's the earth's gravity but the moon's gravity is another under-developed source of power. Back in '82, I saw my first tidal generating station on Canada's east coast Bay of Fundy where the tides are the highest in the world. Come to think of it, how many floating docks, peers, etc could be generating power?

I didn't pay that close attention but on PESN's Smart Scarecrow last December, Mark Dansie (who nixes almost all FE claims) mentioned a promising gravity-based device based on some kind of floatation.

[Pal]

Thank you Ein~+ein for your suggestions. Indeed the best idea is to retrofit locks with turbines at the outflow and inflow. None of the locks seem to have that. Moreover some of the canals are closed during the winter for several months e.g. Welland canal (Niagara by-pass)

Extra engineered locks near existing transport canals, supplied by underground aqua ducts would supplement the power output because they would work all year around.

[Ein~+ein]

In some places, solid structures known as breakwaters are built a distance from shore to protect harbours or prevent coastline erosion but wouldn't a stretch of wave generating platforms tethered to the sea-bed provide the same protection while generating electrical power? And how much power, say, in comparison to a wind turbine, for an equivalent initial investment?

[Harvey]

Hi Pal,

The concept is valid and already in use:
Annapolis Royal Generating Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tidal power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some variant ideas:
Tidal Power - Generating electricity from tidal currents

[Ein~+ein]

Hi Pal,
The concept is valid and already in use:

Thanks for the link, Harvey. Seems we've gone from barges to barrages.

Tidal barrages make use of the potential energy in the difference in height (or head) between high and low tides. When using tidal barrages to generate power, the potential energy from a tide is seized through strategic placement of specialized dams. When the sea level rises and the tide begins to come in, the temporary increase in tidal power is channeled into a large basin behind the dam, holding a large amount of potential energy. With the receding tide, this energy is then converted into mechanical energy as the water is released through large turbines that create electrical power though the use of generators.[9] Barrages are essentially dams across the full width of a tidal estuary.

This is interesting:

Shepody Bay (1550 MW), Cumberline Basin (1085 MW) and Cobequid Bay (3800 MW). These were never built despite their apparent feasibility in 1977.[11]

But what was built was the station Harvey mentioned:

The first tidal power site in North America is the Annapolis Royal Generating Station, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, which opened in 1984 on an inlet of the Bay of Fundy.[15] It has 20 MW installed capacity.

All from Tidal power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I'm wondering how tidal would compare to wind and solar from a return on investment perspective. That '77 study was done when oil prices only started to increase.

[Pal]

Hello Harvey and Ein++ein than you for alerting me for the tidal energy websites, here is the link to my ideas regarding tidal energy

http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/13497-tidal-energy-idea.html#post225788