Zeeland Tidal Power to power 100,000 households
The “Zeeland Tidal Power” partnership consists of the companies Hillebrand, Istimewa, DELTA Energy, PZEM, Zeeuwind and Tocardo. This first tidal power plant in the Eastern Scheldt Barrier, part of the Deltaworks, is the largest tidal energy project in the Netherlands as well as the world’s largest commercial tidal installation of five turbines in an array. This project marked a very important step in the development of tidal energy, because tidal energy could grow into a significant Dutch export product. The export expectation of tidal energy is more than 200 Gigawatt.
In the past years, extensive monitoring of the first tidal power plant in the Eastern Scheldt Barrier has been carried out in the Oosterschelde, taking into account environmental effects on soil protection and the impact on the storm surge barriers as well on the environmental effects on the estuaries behind the barrier. The results of this study, performed by the Marine research institutes Deltares and Wageningen University & Research, are very promising.
Together with Rijkswaterstaat Zeeland Tidal Power is investigating the full rollout of the 100 MW plan, always and first taking into account the primary task of the Deltaworks, as water defense for the Netherlands. The Delta Works were built by Rijkswaterstaat to protect the country against flooding from the North Sea.
The Eastern Scheldt Barrier is the largest and best known of the Delta Works. The 9 kilometre long structure seals off the Oosterschelde if there is a threat of flooding. The Eastern Scheldt Barrier is a unique project. At the time, it was the largest ever structure to be built in terms of its scale and dimensions. And it is still unequaled. The barrier is regarded worldwide as a landmark in hydraulic engineering.
Tidal energy is a form of sustainable energy with an enormous worldwide potential. The major benefits of tidal energy are the limited impact on the environment, the invisibility of the turbines, the enormous available capacity and the exact predictability of generated power.
Source : Strategic Research Institute