You missed the part where the tens of thousands of fish died the same week
the turbine was put into operation.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1428745-studies-lacking-in-bay-of-fundy-fish-kill-say-fishermen
That particular model is putting a strong magnetic field (1,200,000 nT)
through the open, conductive saltwater gap, between rotor and stator.
Things corrode very quickly when you put a voltage in seawater. All of
their sacrificial zincs were gone when they pulled the turbine after a few
months. While it was connected the first 3 months I calculated it only
supplied enough power to the grid to power a few household treadmills.
I guess it is more environmentally friendly to be killed by green energy.
On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 10:25 PM, Jed Rothwell
wrote:
> The potential energy from tides, waves and the Gulf Stream is immense.
> People have known that for a long time. There have been many attempts to
> tap these sources. They have failed because the ocean environment is so
> challenging. Ships and boats require constant maintenance. My father, who
> grew up among them on Long Island and Bermuda, said that a boat is "a hole
> in the water into which you pour money."
>
> The Bay of Fundy is one of the most promising places for tidal generation.
> A large generator was installed there in 2009. It failed *within days*.
> See:
>
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tidal-power-bay-
> of-fundy-turbine-electricity-emera-hydro-1.3862227
>
> Think about that. Here we are in the 21st century with computer
> simulations, immense knowledge of engineering, materials and so on, yet
> this machinery failed as quickly as the first transatlantic cable did in
> 1858! Because putting things under the ocean is difficult. H. G. Wells was
> a technophile yet in 1901 he said, "my imagination refuses to see any sort
> of submarine doing anything but suffocate its crew and founder at sea."
>
> I am not saying this technology will never work, but the fact that a
> megawatt-scale installation failed within days is telling. It's telling you
> this is a lot harder than it looks.
>
> Tapping a flow of fresh water in a stream or river is a lot easier. People
> have been doing that for ~2,500 years.
>
>
