Inshore solutions

Climate resilient infrastructures

Globally, around 10% of world’s population (a little under half a billion people) lives in the 2 % of land that is below 10 meters elevation with much of this population living in Asia. Changing global climate is causing a range of consequences that pose significant threats for coastal zones. To protect these coastal zones significant efforts will be made in the years to come. Integrating power generating solutions with sea defences or flood protection can contribute positively to the cost benefit analysis of this worldwide increasing demand for infrastructure investments.

Utilizing existing infrastructures

Bridges, dams and dikes make ideal locations for deployment of power generating solutions in existing dams, bridges and constructions close to the sea can be retrofitted with turbines to generate renewable energy. In the US and Canada there is a big push to upgrade dams built for purposes such as water management or navigation with a feature they never had before: power generation (CBC News, Some old dams are being given a new power: generating clean electricity, 2021). Also, in Asia such opportunities exist, for example the Saemangeum Seawall in Korea contains 18 discharge sluices each with a width of 27 meters. On this site 17.9 MW can be installed with a similar approach as Tocardo applied at the Dutch icon Afsluitdijk between 2008 and 2019.

Tocardo OTP, operational since 2015

In September 2015 Tocardo has installed, together with Huisman Equipment B.V., a tidal power plant in one of the gates in the Oosterschelde barrier. The entire Oosterschelde system consists of five T-2s tidal turbines supplied and designed by Tocardo which are all installed on a single hydraulic lift frame designed, constructed and supplied by Huisman Equipment. The turbines can be lifted for maintenance or safety reasons. The peak power capacity of the tidal plant is approximately 1.2 MW at 4.0 m/s water speed. This project brings the technology readiness level (TRL) of the T-2s turbine series to TRL-8. Tocardo is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the entire plant, that is currently still in operation and injecting power into the grid.