Automatic control of tidal power plant

Renewable energy can be used to decrease global dependence on natural resources, and tidal power can be the primary form of renewable power utilized. Built upon steam turbine knowledge, tidal turbines draw on innovative technology and design to operate on both the inflow and outflow of water through them. Tidal power utilizes twice the daily variation in sea level caused primarily by the gravitational effect of the Moon and, to a lesser extent by the Sun on the world's oceans. The Earth's rotation is also a factor in the production of tides. Control & Operation system for tidal power plant should be simple, reliable, cheap and with minimum interference of operating personal. Control system should be such that remote operation can be performed easily. The main functions of the controller for automation is to execute starting and the shut down sequences under normal and emergency conditions. In this paper an attempt has been made to elaborate the use of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for control and automation of tidal power plant, its advantages and cost effectiveness. Programmable logic controllers (PLC) can be used for control & automation of tidal power plant. The main reason for this is cost effectiveness. Various functions and controls can be achieved by programming the PLC. They can be used for full plant automation including governing of auto-operation includes speed control, load control, excitation control, and level control automatic start/stop sequencing, barrage gate control, start/stop of auxiliary systems, and protection requirement etc. Functions other than control like continuous monitoring, data recording, instrumentation and protections can also be performed. For remote operation, communication with PLC can be performed. For continuous monitoring purpose, a personal computer can be interfaced with PLC and continuous data can be recorded regularly [16].