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Other Renewable
Energy Technologies

Marine Renewables

Marine Renewables - Resource Potential

Tidal energy

For an impounded water basin with a constant water level difference of H metres, the potential energy of the water stored in the basin for each tide is 4.91 H2 kJ/m2. This is the theoretical maximum upper bound estimation formula for tidal energy resources.

With the above formula and the 1999 tidal data recorded from the various tidal measuring stations, the theoretical maximum tidal energy which can be produced per day per unit area of an impounded water basin have been calculated and given below.

Tidal Resource Potential

Station
Theoretical Maximum Tidal Energy (kJ/m2)
Annual Total
Daily Mean
Shek Pik
4,782
13.10
Tsim Be Tsui
8,640
23.67
Lok On Pai
5,335
14.62
Quarry Bay
4,402
12.06
Tai Po Kau
4,859
13.31
Tai Miu Wan
3,557
9.75
Waglan Island
3,397
9.31
Average
4,996
13.7

The average tidal energy resource potential for Hong Kong is only 13.7 kJ/m2/day or 1.39 kWh/m2/yr, which is very small when compared to other Renewable Energy (RE) resources.

Wave energy

Using the wave data collected by the Hong Kong Observatory at Waglan Island in the year 1999, it was estimated (in the RE study of EMSD) that a 10 kW installation will take up about 35m of shoreline.