Assessment of the Potential of Harnessing Tidal Energy in the Khowr-e Musa Estuary in the Persian Gulf

Abstract

Today, the widespread use of fossil fuels is caused many problems in the world, which include: Ozone depletion, the increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, growing recognition of climate change impacts and decreasing fossil fuel resources. These issues have led to an increased interest in the mass generation of electricity from renewable sources such tidal energy. The Khowr-e Musa Estuary, located in the west-north of Persian Gulf, has a spring tidal range approaching 5 meters. Doragh estuary branches of Musa estuary are located in the Persian Gulf at a distance of five kilometers from Bandar Imam Khomeini. In this study, a widely used 2D hydrodynamic model, namely MIKE21HD, was applied to estimate the potential of harnessing tidal energy. Therefore, this research provides the hydrodynamic details of the assessments carried out to estimate the potential of electricity generation by using two proposed barrages in the Doragh estuary. The results have shown that the total electricity generated being about 150 MWh for the first barrage and 535.98 MWh for the second one over a typical mean spring tidal cycle.