Tidal Energy Brouwersdam
Short Project Description v2.0
How to construct an innovative tidal power plant at the
Brouwersdam to power up more than 35.000 Dutch
households?
(Source: MIRT Project Lake Grevelingen)
Introduction
As part of a restructuring study of the Grevelingen lake area, between the province of SouthHolland and Zeeland, an inlet in the
Brouwersdam is proposed to connect the
North Sea with the Grevelingen lake. This
way, it is expected that the flora and fauna in
the Grevelingen lake area will blossom again
by bringing back the tides, like it was before
the Brouwersdam was built in 1971.
One of the opportunities that arise with
bringing back the tides again, is to
implement a Tidal Power Plant (TPP) at the
Brouwersdam (figure 1).
Figure 1, Artist impression of the Brouwersdam
(Source: MIRT Verkenning, 2010)
Problem Description
For the implementation of a TTP at the Brouwersdam a smart design is needed in which a lot
of challenges are tackled. Most of the existing technologies currently in place are not suitable
and/or sustainable enough to deal with the requirements that the Grevelingen area ask of
such a technology.
The main question is: How to design a truly sustainable and innovative tidal power plant at
the Brouwersdam, in which the specific functional and areal requirements are taken into
account?
One might ask if the words “truly sustainable” are not redundant if they are mentioned in the
same sentence as tidal energy, we do not think so. As most of the current technologies in
place for tidal energy, like bulb turbines, have a bad record of taking account of the living
conditions of fish and other water mammals, this is mentioned explicitly in the main
question. And on top of that it is important to come up with creative and innovative ideas for
this project to gain new knowledge and promote the area where sustainability, innovation
and economic progress goes hand in hand.
To answer the main question, the design project will focus on the following 3 main pillars;
technology, economy and ecology. Not surprisingly, technology will form a leading role in the
design project, whereas ecology mainly constraints the solution space in the form of setting
requirements. Ultimately, the economic picture of the design will most likely play a decisive
role in determining the attractiveness of the design to be implemented.
Technology
This design project will primarily focus on the feasibility of a hydro-pneumatic system, also
called the air-siphon technique, which can be seen in figure 2. This technique is currently
only proven on a laboratory scale for heads down to 2 meter (at the Lancaster University, UK)
but not yet commercially implemented and proven for large(r) scale power plants and for the
operation under heads of 1 meter.
Two of the most important reasons why this system is chosen as most promising option at the
Brouwersdam are:
i.
Low fish mortality due to the fact that there are no turning blades in the water.
ii.
Expected capital investment costs are less than for most other options, like the
bulb turbines.
However, it should be mentioned that these
expectations still need to be proven
scientifically.
Figure 2, Hydro-pneumatic system (innovative system)
Figure 3, Bulb turbines (most common technology)
Tasks
Without being exclusive, some of the tasks for this project that need to be done are related to
the following issues:
o Constructional (re-)design of the dam
o Design of the siphon and air entrainment devices
o Developing computational simulations of the water and air flow dynamics
o Mechanical/electrical design of the air turbines
o Electrical power yield calculations
o Operation & control design of the power plant
o Research in pumping mechanism of power plant
o Effect on water quality (aeration)
Economy
As smaller, but not unimportant, part of the design project, the financial costs and returns of
the TPP need to be included. This is related to the expected capital investments, power
production returns and costs for maintaining and operating the plant. Using inputs from the
research related to the technology, these unknowns can be solved and a cost benefit analysis
will ultimately determine an important part of the attractiveness of the power plant by
determining the KWh price of the plant.
Ecology
As said earlier in this short project description, ecology is considered to be an important
pillar to take into account. In this project is mainly important due to the stringent design
requirements that are set from an ecological point of view. One of the things is for example
the fish mortality rate, which should be kept at an absolute minimum (<0,5%). As it is
expected that the hydro-pneumatic system will achieve good results in this field, it is not yet
proven. This unknown could be explored by using simulation models.
Project Group
The profile of the group that will work for this design project will have a strong engineering
background and preferably also have some economical expertise. The group will most
probably consist of about 5 to 7 students together with a project leader. Based on the project
description above, students can determine themselves if they think they can contribute to the
project. We opt for students with a background in:
- Mechanical engineering
- Electrical (power) engineering
- Civil engineering
- Systems and control engineering
- Sustainable energy technology
- Economics/finance