Sonar, Beasties and the Quest for Green Power

Marine Renewable Energies

Philippe Blondel

University of Bath, Centre for Space, Atmosphere and Ocean Science (formerly worked for the French Air Force earlier in his career)

BRLSI 29^th May 2015

Fish could get injured by tidal power, their behaviour plus that of seals etc and diving birds needs to be observed to assess how safe underwater turbines would be.

From observations through spot checks and day long observations built up over a long period of time it can be shown that the prototype underwater turbines on the seabed would be safe from interactions with marine life.

· People don’t disclose when things go wrong installing the wave turbines because they don’t want to disclose commercial secrets.

· Little noise pollution from acoustic sensitivity analysis of turbines noise pollution

· Up to 29 TW capacity for tidal power in Atlantic basin

· Up to 7 TW of potential tidal power in Pacific basin

Tidal power is more reliable than wind, is a secure source of electricity

· With no nuclear waste

Tidal turbines do not affect sonar arrays as wind turbines would affect effectiveness of radar detection.

Barnacles and algae could be a problem (lifetime of turbines tbd as they are prototypes still but a very long lived turbine would greatly enhance the economic benefit of the project)

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