Subject:- Renewable Energy Sources

Topic:- Geothermal Energy

Difficulty:- Medium

Advantages:

• Energy is freely available & inexhaustible.
• Power can be used to meet local needs of coastal area and for peak loads.
• Power is ensured round the year through its operation is intermittent.
• It is pollution free.
• It is unaffected by the vagaries of monsoon.

Limitations :

• It is site specific and the tidal energy can be recovered economically on the locations where the tidal range is 5m or more.
• The availability of tidal energy is variable thus the power generation is highly fluctuating in nature.
• Turbines are needed which can operate with fluctuating heads.
• The marine life and ecology is affected in the region where the tide plants are located . It also affects the navigation system.
• In order to handle large volume flow rates of tidal water at low heads , tidal plants need to operate with several turbines in parallel.
• Sea water is corrosive.