A 28-ton, 1.2 MW tidal kite is now exporting power to the grid

uriel238 , 4 months ago

1.2 MW so (thinks in Satisfactory) sixteen coal turbines or eight fuel generators.

blackfire , 4 months ago

I guess these would be more useful in the far north and far south. How do they sound under the water and does it affect marine life?

Pistcow , 4 months ago

What!? Malp...Malp..

-Orcas

Nawor3565 , 4 months ago

I wouldn't expect much sound, water is very dense so only very low frequencies can effectively travel through it. From the pictures, this thing doesn't seem big enough to make much of an impact in that regard. As for marine life, it would probably be a matter of how fast it travels underwater, which the article unfortunately doesn't mention.

BossDj , 4 months ago

Tons of studies going on! Mostly data collection on the turbines themselves and observing animal patterns, but still waiting on more analysis.

They're not seeing marine life getting pulled into the turbines.

The sound issue concern isn't about carry distance, but creating a sound wall or causing confusion especially for echolocation animals. But the concerns are all currently speculative, all unknowns right now. But tons of studies.

blackfire , 4 months ago

Yeah the sound wall is what I meant, didnt know there was a term for it. Ive heard some other stationary under water turbine designs are incredibly loud and really affect the surrounding life.

BossDj , 4 months ago

I completely made up the term sound wall