The Seagen current turbine

Introduction

As the planet is increasingly running out of its natural resources, it’s becoming more and more important that technologies are devised to replace the fuel in which we have taken for granted and relied on for some many years. In order to replace these natural resources we have to devise a technology that does not lead to the same conclusion using the current fuels has taken us to. It is important that the technologies that are designed can replace the natural resources without the need for further technology in the future. It is also important that the technologies meet the high level of demand society has created.

At present there are a select amount of technologies that are showing high promise for the future. But none of these technologies alone can stand up and meet the high demand alone. In this report my main focus is going to be on the Seagen current turbine which is still currently in development in Northern Irelands Strangford Lough and is being used as a prototype for commercial technologies that could follow in the future based on its successes and failures.

What is the Seagen

The Seagen turbine is basically an underwater turbine that instead of using the wind to move its propellers uses the underwater currents that flow in two directions. The Seagen has been in development for four years and is based on results taken from its predecessor ‘Seaflow’ which was installed off the coast of Devon in 2003 with a high success rate.

The Question

The big question that needs to be answered about the Seagen in general is, can these submerged turbines meet the electrical demands of town or cities nearby and if not what other methods can be put in place to coincide with these turbines to meet the demand?

The Answer

In 2004 the UK produced a total of 392,979 GWh of electricity to meet demand. Below is a table showing the electricity produced from 1998 to 2004:
Year Electricity produced (GWh)
2004 392,979
2003 395,886
2002 384,854
2001 382,355
2000 372,206
1999 365,462
1998 361,096
(Table taken from http://www.aepuk.com/need_info.php#3)

Although this table is out of demand it shows an increase in demand until 2004 until it took a slight drop. If we were to take for granted that the demand was to keep increasing, this would suggest that the technology that gets put into place has room for improvement in order to increase efficiency in order to continue meeting the demand for the future generations.

Photo caption

As Shown above current technologies typically contribute 6MWh per year. The Seagen on its own is expected to provide power for 1000 homes. Based on the successes and failures of the Seagen, a farm of turbines will shortly follow producing power for many more homes.
In conclusion its quite clear that the Seagen on its own cannot produce enough electricity for the world but its definitely a step in the right direction.

Possible Technological alternatives
There are many alternative technologies around such as wind turbines, tidal generators, nuclear power plants etc. Many of these have a lot of drawbacks, nuclear power plants have the waste produced, wind turbines produce a lot of noise, and tidal turbines only work at certain points of the day.
Combinations of all these technologies contribute to the solution that they are aiming to solve.
The main technology that contests with the Seagen would most probably be wind turbines mainly because they can be hosted off shore in places where the farms developed after the successes and failures of the Seagen will be built.

Possible political issues
The main political issues that I can see arising in the future involve the harm that could be done the animal life underwater. The designers of the Seagen said this: the designers for these turbines say they are safe to operate in the seas. “The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.”

Financial effects cause by the Seagen

The cost of developing a technology will heavily have an impact on what the cost to the general public will be. The Seagen cost £8.5 million to develop and we are yet to find out how much the electricity is going to cost that is produced from it. Currently the installation has been delayed which can’t be cheap for the developer as the fully constructed prototype is sitting in Belfast’s Harlem and wolf ship yard waiting to be installed. All these costs will surely contribute to the prices the developers of Seagen will charge for their electricity. This will therefore raise issues as to whether or not this sustainable technology will be affordable to the general public.

The effect nationally and globally

Should the Seagen prove to be as successful as its predecessor the Seaflow, the sustainability of this technology will be, in my opinion will be greatly enhanced. The manufacturing of sea farms consisting of Seagen turbines in my opinion will be a great as it is a technology that will not interfere with our lives and will be in our best interest.
Nationally I believe that the Seagen will prove to be a huge success to the goal that is green energy. This is provided that the technology is affordable to its users and if it produces what has been said it will produce. These turbines are much smaller in comparison to wind turbines that more of them can occupy and area therefore increasing the amount of electricity per square mile that can be produced. These turbines in farms would probably be able to produce green electricity for a lot of coastal cities and towns taking the demand away from the power stations etc that are using up all of the natural resources.

Globally if this technology takes off, it could produce a huge chunk of electricity to the demand of the world. With will be cleaner, greener and harmless to its surrounding areas. It’s also hidden away underwater so it will hardly affect the views on the coastline except for where the repair stations are.

Conclusion

In conclusion the technology seems to be a feasible contribution to the aim of producing green electricity that the world can survive on if or when the fossil fuels run out. In my opinion I believe that the Seagen is the start of good things to come in the future as it alone can power 1000 homes. When farms are finally developed the possibilities are endless. Farms can be placed in locations all over the world helping to support other forms of green electricity or even be ahead of the field in terms of green power.
I believe that the technology can be developed further in order to improve efficiency in the turbines and also in the cost to develop the turbines itself making it possible to produce more and more turbines to contribute the global society.
For me it has been enjoyable to study into the Seagen turbine and it’s a shame that the installation date has been set back because by now the successes of failures of this technology would be apparent allowing me to study further into where this technology could go in the future. This technology combined with others could be the technology that keeps future generations alive so I would watch this space because these are very important steps to ensure the survival of future generations and the planet.

Refereneces
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story;jsessionid=323C79691CCB2C20805E81EFC6718436?id=48862
http://www.aepuk.com/need_info.php#3
http://hubpages.com/hub/Worlds_Largest_Tidal_Turbine