COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN HYDROELECTRIC DEVELOPMENTS AND TIDAL STREAM DEVELOPMENTS

The Hydroelectric Developments (HD) technology is very well known due to the fact that it has been studied during the last 120 years. To generate electricity from the water in the rivers or dams, different technologies have been developed but at the end only four of them are used: Pelton, Francis, Kaplan and Bulb turbines. Those technologies have had a large development although, at present, scientists and engineers are working hard to increase their efficiency above 95% in some cases. On the other hand, the Tidal Stream Developments (TSD) technology is at the beginning of its life and the existing developments are mainly used as a test to improve the technology than to generate and sell electricity. Nowadays a number of different technologies are being studied because practically each manufacturer has developed its own solution.

The objective of this paper is to show analogies and differences between Hydroelectric Developments and Tidal Stream Developments as technologies suitable to generate electric power from the marine currents energy.