South Korean Tidal Power

by Joe
(Townsville)

Sihwa tidal power plant

South Korea are looking at building a power plant with a capacity of 240-260 mega watt at the entrance to Lake Sihwa by 2009 at a cost of about US$400 million. Another plant around 520 megawatts is being considered for Garolim Bay, both on the country's west coast.

About ten years ago a huge seawall was built at Lake Sihwa to create a freshwater resource behind it. There has since been a build up of pollution from nearby factories, and environmental issues to do with this tidal barrage would still need to be resolved.

The Sihwa tidal power plant project is the first of its kind in Korea. The plan is to open the existing dam to allow the circulation and exchange of water between the Lake Sihwa and the sea. The tidal plant will improve the lake by circulating 60 billion tonnes of seawater annually.

As an aside, an article recently stated that typhoons in Korea are becoming more common and stronger. Korea used to experience a so-called super typhoon every 10 years, now they are appearing once every two or three years.