Dismantling San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant will take two decades and cost $4.4 billion dollars. 1,500 jobs will be lost and 2.2 gigawatts of power will need to be replaced.
Re-purposing San Onofre from a nuclear power generating plant to a tidal energy plant may be the solution to Southern California's long term, cost effective, sustainable energy needs.
Clean Energy From Free-Flowing Water
Tidal energy generation can be harnessed using in-stream devices such as an underwater turbine to create electrical power. They are essentially freestanding turbines anchored to the sea floor. The flow of the ocean current turns an impeller (just like a windmill) to create energy. However; because water has a different density than air (water is 800 times denser than air), ocean turbines can be much smaller and can turn much slower to generate the same amount of power as a wind turbine. In addition, tidal energy does not require the permanent impediment of water flow (such as a dam or other barrier) and is therefore not as harmful to aquatic life.
The most costly and difficult part of creating electricity using underwater turbines is not the cost of the turbines, but the cost of connecting the power source to the main electrical grid. San Onofre is a power generating plant already connected to the main electrical grid sitting right on the Ocean. The cost to connect off-shore underwater turbines to San Onofre would be minimal making this an exciting opportunity for the future of southern California power generation.
Some Current Projects from Around the World:
Meygen
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