Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods.
The Severn Barrage is any of a range of ideas for building a barrage from the English coast to the Welsh coast over the Severn tidal estuary. Ideas for damming or barraging the Severn estuary have existed since the 19th century. The building of such a barrage would constitute an engineering project comparable with some of the world's biggest. The purposes of such a project have typically been one or several of: transport links, flood protection, harbour creation, or tidal power generation. In recent decades it is the latter that has grown to be the primary focus for barrage ideas, and the others are now seen as useful side-effects. Following the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study (2008–10), the British government concluded that there was no strategic case for building a barrage but to continue to investigate emerging technologies. In June 2013 the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee published its findings after an eight-month study of the arguments for and against the Barrage. MPs said the case for the barrage was unproven. They were not convinced the economic case was strong enough and said the developer, Hafren Power, had failed to answer serious environmental and economic concerns.
A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide begins to fall. When the tide is low enough, the stored water can be released to turn a water wheel.
Albert Irénée Caquot was a French engineer. He received the “Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)” and was Grand-croix of the Légion d’Honneur (1951). In 1962, he was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences from 1934 until his death in 1976.
The Lyon–Moutiers DC transmission scheme was the most powerful mechanical high voltage direct current electric power transmission scheme ever built. Designed by Rene Thury, it was used between 1906 and 1936 for power transmission from a hydroelectric power plant at Moûtiers to Lyon, France.
Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station is the world's largest tidal power installation, with a total power output capacity of 254 MW. When completed in 2011, it surpassed the 240 MW Rance Tidal Power Station, which was the world's largest for 45 years. It is operated by the Korea Water Resources Corporation.
EDF Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable energy facilities, and manages operations and maintenance for its own account and for third parties.
A tidal barrage is a dam-like structure used to capture the energy from masses of water moving in and out of a bay or river due to tidal forces.
Le Pouget is a hydroelectric power station located at Le Truel, on the River Tarn, in the department of Aveyron in France. It uses the difference in height between the artificial lakes of Villefranche-de-Panat and Pareloup on the Lévézou plateau and the river 500 m below. It ranks as the 16th largest station in France. It is part of the complex system that connects the rivers Alrance, Ceor, Viaur, Bage and Violou with the Tarn.
Under its commitment to the EU renewable energy directive of 2009, France has a target of producing 23% of its total energy needs from renewable energy by 2020. This figure breaks down to renewable energy providing 33% of energy used in the heating and cooling sector, 27% of the electricity sector and 10.5% in the transport sector. By the end of 2014, 14.3% of France's total energy requirements came from renewable energy, a rise from 9.6% in 2005.
The Génissiat Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Rhône in France near the village of Injoux-Génissiat. Construction began in 1937, but was delayed by World War II, and the dam did not start generating power until 1948. By 1949 it had the greatest capacity of any dam in Europe.
The Bissorte Dam is a gravity dam in the Maurienne Valley, in Savoie, France, about 7 km (4.3 mi) east of Valmeinier. It was built from 1930 to 1935 to supply a hydroelectric plant capable of generating 75 megawatts (MW) of power.
The Montézic Power Station is a pumped-storage power plant near the commune of Montézic in northern Aveyron, France. Its 910 megawatt capacity ranks it second among France's main pumped-storage facilities, and is the only one situated on the Central Massif.
La Coche Power Station, also known as Sainte-Hélène la Coche, is a hydroelectric power plant in the commune of Aigueblanche, in Savoie, France. It is one of the six main pumped-storage hydropower plants in France.
The Bâtiment des Forces motrices (BFM), French for "Power plant building", is the power house of a former hydro power plant and waterworks in Geneva called Usine des Forces Motrices, later Usine des Forces Motrices de la Coulouvrenière.
François Lempérière, born in 1926 in Cherbourg, is a French civil engineer who built and/or designed 15 dams in France and other countries. He invented solutions such as Fusegates, Piano Keys Weir, Twin Dams and Tidal Gardens. He received his education at Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.
The Moukoukoulou Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Bouenza River in the Republic of the Congo, built by Chinese technicians and commissioned in 1979 to supply energy to Pointe-Noire. It is the main source of power to the south of the country. Due to fluctuating water levels and to poor maintenance of the plant and transmission network it often delivers far less than its nominal 74 megawatts.
The Mersey Barrage is a proposed scheme for building a tidal barrage across the Mersey Estuary. In December 2022, the Liverpool City Region mayor announced cooperation between the City Region and K-water of South Korea, who built and operates the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station, in order to construct a similar operation on the River Mersey.
The Rizzanese Reservoir is a reservoir in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica. It stores water for irrigation, and supplies the largest hydroelectric power plant in Corsica, with installed capacity of 55 MW.
