Tidal power, sometimes called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power.
Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power. Historically, tide mills have been used, both in Europe and on the Atlantic coast of North America. The earliest occurrences date from the Middle Ages, or even from Roman times.
Tidal power can be classified into three main types:
Tidal stream systems make use of the kinetic energy of moving water to power turbines, in a similar way to windmills that use moving air. This method is gaining in popularity because of the lower cost and lower ecological impact compared to barrages.The largest tidal energy is the bay of Fundy
Barrages make use of the potential energy in the difference in height between high and low tides. Barrages are essentially dams across the full width of a tidal estuary, and suffer from very high civil infrastructure costs, a worldwide shortage of viable sites, and environmental issues.
Tidal lagoons, are similar to barrages, but can be constructed as self contained structures, not fully across an estuary, and are claimed to incur much lower cost and impact overall. Furthermore they can be configured to generate continuously which is not the case with barrages.
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