The main disadvantages of tidal power

In the modern world, we have seen a shift from traditional method of generating power to a more contemporary one.  And the one that is the center of attention these days is the tidal power.  Favorite amongst the scientist, this energy source is really making its presence felt in the world of energy source and power generation.  No doubt, it comes with a lot of advantages but distance drums always sound well and this is also the case with the tidal power, as with advantages it also has a lot of disadvantages.

The following are some of the disadvantages of tidal power that should be looked upon with utmost care.

• Tidal power is not all cost effective as it seems to be in the first place compared to natural gas and coal plants generating power. More so, the power stations in turn also add up to the carbon content of the atmosphere as fossil fuel is needed to run these power stations. Besides, wild life is displaced from their regular habitat.

• Tidal power cannot be generated inland and can be used where there is appropriate wave motion or tidal flow. It can only produce electricity when there is a tidal surge, not every time.

• Barrage system of tidal power generation requires a lot of maintenance and salt resistant parts. These barrages disrupt fish migration and at the same time kill some of them while they try to pass through the turbine frames. Besides, they disrupt the movement of ships through channels on which barrage is built.

• Tidal power is limited, as the tide never slows down or speeds up and at the same time occurs in cycles of 6 hours. Besides, tidal power is also dependent on fetch distance and hardly any suitable fetch distance is available and wherever available, the cost rises to almost 1.2 billion in setting up the facility.

• Technology is yet not developed fully and hence construction of efficient, cheap and strong conversion device is a bit problematic.

• Location is also one of the major problems as appropriate tides are not found everywhere. More so, tides are dispersing energy sources, lopsided and irregular in size, durability and distance.

Fossil fuels can be produced anywhere, but as mentioned above tidal power is locale specific and needs to be transformed to something different to be transported.

The above points are quite a testimonial to the fact that, there are a number of disadvantages to tidal power. No doubt, until and unless some techniques are developed to get rid of all the problems and cost factors associated with it, it may not be as cost effective to make it viable as a usable source of energy. However, the time is not far when the technologies would be developed and we would be able to come up with a better answer and solutions to all the problems.