The United Kingdom is soon going to have the world’s first lagoon power plants that would generate electricity with the power of the sea tides. The plant will be like huge man-made lakes and will be able to generate 8% of the UK’s electricity.
The plans are out for six lagoons in total. One in southwest of England in Somerset, four in Wales, and one in north-west of England. The tides around Britain are tidal and the water levels vary every day and sometimes they vary with several meters in height.
A huge amount of water comes and goes at regular intervals. The lagoons will make use of the power from the tides as the water flows back and forth. When the tides increase, the gates at the lagoon are closed and water builds up outside the wall. The gates are opened when the tides are the highest and the water rushes through the turbines built in the wall. When the turbines rotate the electricity is generated.
On the other hand the environment groups say that the lagoons must not disturb the wildlife. Some are worried that the turbines might even harm the fish, so the lagoons will not be built very near to the rivers. But the company building the lagoons have clarified that the lagoon walls will work like artificial reefs for the wildlife.
Photo Credits: BBC
