How South Korea accidentally decided to build the largest tidal power plant in the world (5 photos)

The dam on Sihwa Bay in South Korea was built in 1994 year as a remedy for floods that harmed the rural au pair. There were two tasks - land reclamation in the coastal zone and creation of a reservoir of fresh water for irrigation of existing and future fields. However, not everything went according to plan.





Dam on Sihwa Bay

Some time after the dam appeared, it became clear that the retained water is too actively polluted - for the same agriculture, it quickly became unsuitable. But with the "development new lands" taken from the water, everything went well - the area of ​​the bay (from the shore to the dam) decreased from 43 to 30 square kilometers.

In 2011, the dam - well, since such a thing, then not good to perish - was used for the construction of the largest world tidal power plant with a capacity of 254 MW.



The world's largest Sikhvin TPP

Sihwa Bay has a fairly large area and a small depth, so that the Yellow Sea, to which it belongs, provides pretty strong tides.

The height of the tide here is from 5 to 7.8 meters in depending on the time of year. The construction of the power plant was intended kill two birds with one stone: in fact, generate electricity and help cleanse the lake - thanks to the channel opened in this way water.





Embankment on the dam, where the Sikhvin TPP was built

Interestingly, the Koreans stopped at quite inefficient scheme of using only the energy of the tides. That there is when the water arrives, the turbines are spinning and electricity is being developed. At most TPPs, the water leaving the coast also "serves for the good of man", but in this case she leaves "just like that".

Strengthening water exchange with the help of a "hole in the dam" began back in 1997 - that is, having done a special a channel through which water could flow back and forth. Into this hole in fact, the PES turbines were later delivered.



Lunar observatory on a dam in Sihwa Bay

But the discharge of water back into the sea just allows you to decide ecological problems. They write that with each cycle (apparently it means ebb and flow) in the bay is updated about a quarter of the volume remaining there water. This happens for the simple reason that through the turbines less water flows into the bay than it then pours out "in free mode" - the turbines still need to be turned.

It should also be noted that during the construction of the TPP, at the same time created a pair of artificial peninsulas by expanding the two ends of the dam.



A park on an artificial peninsula near the Sikhvinskaya TPP

It is actually now the most attractive for tourists places, since they immediately decided to give one such peninsula for all sorts of entertainment themes.

Now you can find a large park for walking there, equipped embankments, "Lunar Observatory", recreation areas, museums, art galleries, etc. In general, just a trip for the whole day. On The work of the power plant, of course, can also be admired.