Off Topic Dark Matter and other Astronomy information.

I believe more of what we are today is determined by our primitive instincts than by civilisation.

Accumulation of wealth - which in primitive times would have been gathering food and clothing to see you through harsh times and thus is almost hard wired into our genetics. Desire to be more powerful than other men - meant you became more powerful, lived longer so had more children and passed this desire onto them. And the desire to mate with as many women as possible - those with stronger mating drives produced more children than those who didn't so this again became imbedded in our genetic blueprint.

 

What do you all make of this lot?

Moon Power is Here: Harnessing Tides to Generate Electricity
Jun 1, 2015

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Most people might still consider the idea of using tides to generate electricity as outlandish as a trip to the moon. But starting this year, the concept is quicklybecoming reality. “We went to the moon 46 years ago, and now we are using it to produce energy,” says Frederic Navarro, project director at GE Power Conversion in Belfort, France. “That’s because the moon’s gravity tugs on the ocean and produces predictable tides that run like clockwork, twice a day.”

Navarro leads a GE team that is helping build France’s first subsea tidal power plant for Electricité de France (EDF), near Paimpol-Brehat, in Brittany. When completed at the end of this year, it will generate 1 megawatt of renewable power and feed it through a 10-mile-long (16 kilometers) underwater cable to the local grid.

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Above: A drawing of EDF’s tidal array off the coast of Brittany. The turbines were made by OpenHydro. GE technology will transform the current and send it to the grid. Image credit: OpenHydro Top Image: EDF’s subsea turbine during testing. Image credit: EDF

As the tides move in and out, they will spin two huge turbines measuring 16 meters in diameter and sitting 35 meters below the sea level. The turbines generate electricity with direct-drive permanent magnet generators and send it for processing to a subsea converter. Navarro calls it the “yellow submarine” because of the way it looks. “It works just like dropping a wind turbine to the bottom of the ocean and using water to move the blades,” says Navarro. “It’s that simple.”

The idea might be simple, but the execution takes some serious skills. The turbines, made by OpenHydro, a DCNS subsidiary specializing in the design, manufacture and installation of marine turbines, are so large they have to be assembled in a dry dock in the port of Brest and deployed using a custom built barge.

In the dock, they will be coupled with the “yellow submarine,” built by GE Power Conversion at GE Power & Water’s massive factory in Belfort. But it just happens that Belfort is the most geographically distant town from any coast in France. So last week, the company loaded the subsea vessel on a customized flatbed truck for the 650-mile long journey to Brest.

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The turbines, which are 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter, will sit 35 meters (115 feet) below the sea level and 16 kilometers (10 miles) off the coast. Image credit: OpenHydro

Navarro says the “yellow submarine,“ which is 9 meters long and 5 meters wide, will be “the brain” of the whole tidal array that decides how the turbine should move (see below). The technology inside will control the rotation of the turbines and optimize the power produced generators according to the speed of the tides. “There is a lot of complex engineering that takes place behind the yellow walls,” he says.

For example, it holds sophisticated technology that can independently control the speed of each turbine, transform their variable AC voltages to a high DC voltage, and reduce losses along the 16km subsea cable.

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GE’s yellow submarine contains power technology, nitrogen, and special transformer liquid more expensive than olive oil. Image credit: GE Marine

The current’s journey is anything but ordinary. When it first enters the “yellow submarine,” it travels through a chamber filled with nitrogen. “This allows us to remove any moisture and oxygen and prevent corrosion,” Navarro says.

The current then flows to an enclosure filled with special transformer oil. Made by Midel, the ester-based fluid has been custom-designed to protect the environment in case of a leak. “This stuff is more expensive than the best olive oil,” Navarro says.

Finally, the current travels to an onshore sub-station where another piece of GE technology transforms it again, so it can be connected to the French electrical grid (see below).

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DCNS and OpenHydro will assemble the turbines and the GE equipment in Brest and then tow them via barge to Paimpol-Brehat some 200 kilometers away.

That’s when some of the hardest work will begin. “Naturally, tidal arrays go to places where there are strong currents,” Navarro says. “But these currents also make such locations a tough place to work.”

OpenHydro will use specially trained divers to install the equipment some 35 meters below the surface. “The divers will be only able to work during certain times of the day, when the conditions aren’t dangerous,” Navarro says. The partners expect the array to start producing power by the end of the year.

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Another drawing of the subsea turbine. Image credit OpenHydro

France is far from being a tidal power newbie. In 1966, the country opened theworld’s first tidal power station inside a bridge spanning the River Rance, in Brittany. Just like Paimpol-Brehat, the plant is currently operated by EDF.

Likewise, Paimpol-Brehat is not the only tidal project involving GE. In February, the company said it would supply technology for a massive,320-megawatt tidal lagoonoff the coast of Wales.

“Not too long ago, tidal power seemed like science fiction,” Navarro says. “But today, we’ve started unlocking the potential of tidal energy around the world.”

 

Fantastic development that.

Have you seen the plans for the tidal lagoon at Swansea Bay?

http://www.tidallagoonswanseabay.com/the-project/faqs/59/

It'll generate enough electricity to power all of Swansea and 11% of the total Welsh usage.

 

French

Also, Brest

Sounds good though. Any word on cost? They're bigging up the high-techness of it , which makes it sound expensive. Conditions will presumabky make it harder to maintain and fix as well, but when it's working, the supply should at least be fairly constant I would think. 1 MW is also a bit puny.

 

These turbines are quite common-place now,makes sense to harness natural energy.

Better than looking at power stations,better for the environment

 

Hell of a project, seems very expensive but I think this would be better than those wind farms personally, a blight on the landscape and they are killing big game birds in Scotland for example.

We want cheap energy, the tech is already there for clean energy but the most suitable kinds are also very unprofitable, like solar, the only reason we are not solar out the wazoo is there is no ****ing profit in it.

Wouldn't be surprised to see greenpeace being against these, the arseholes. Greenpeace are against hydroelectric dams too.

How does Al Gore feel about these? he bought shore front properties right after he told the world the sea level rises would create millions of climate refugees in 20 years. Gore is a fraud. The IPCC only want 2% of global GDP a year to manage CO2.

 

So basically anyone who gets the better of you on a consistent basis.

p.s. You do realise that reply was to one of the 'pretentious, self important arseholes' don't you?

EDIT: not reading my posts but suddenly you edit the post above to remove the paragraph that I've quoted, ****ing lol, spineless creature.

 

Popcorn time again

 

Seems that way

 

He was responding to you mate, he deleted that paragraph afterwards...........

 

it might be if I had not got a certain validation seeking loser #ignored,
His posts are for your benefit he knows I can't read them.
But do continue to rim each other, don't mind me, you pretentious types clot together like period blood. Get Swarbs in and have a triumverate of pretentious self importance

 

IPCC temp chart explained and totally busted.

 

oo - er mrs

 

Just calling it like I see it.

I find these pathetic types are usually the billy no mates types and those who inflate their social standing out of all propertion, and self worth for that matter, goiing at others gives them a sense of superiority and they try so hard to be the person they wish to be, but only on the internet.

Take Tobes, the big wig manager, spends a serious amount of his time on the internet, I've worked in corporate environments and never met a manager worth his salt who spent hours every working day posting on football forums, my work ethic ensures I despise such people I work with when that's how they play it. Keep in mind this is not the only forum he trolls, RAWK and god knows how many others.

I sense lies in his "story".

I feel no need to pretend I am someone else.

And don't get me started on "scientists" who "don't science"
#administrator

 

You've got some serious inferiority complex going on.

You've labelled 3 posters - all of whom have handed you your arse on a plate on multiple occasions - a clue perhaps - 'pretentious, self important, arseholes'. You've then decided that lifestyle comments are pure fiction, why? Could it be because you feel threatened by it per chance?
You've created your own narrative to convince yourself that they're not true, because it's obviously an issue for you, otherwise it wouldn't even register......I'd pity you, if you weren't such a ****.

 

Well we've had cliques so why not a triumvirate of pretentious self importance

 

I've been reading Douglas jackson and Conn Iggulden of late so Triumverate seemed appropriate, I could have went with a menage et toi of twatishness

 

FFS

Ménage à trois mate (not to come across as too pretentious)

 

Given last post was from ignored member I assume it's the "senior manager\adult entertainer" with a funny reply followed by a manic laugh smiley?

"My Name is Tobes and I like to go to parties and pretend I am successful, well.. I wish I could go to parties and pretend I am successful"

 

You can't join unfortunately, the trois have already been selected - i.e. no room for you