A serious issue that must be addressed is how and where to use the electric power generated by extracting energy from the tides. Tides are cyclical by their nature, and the corresponding power output of a tidal power plant does not always coincide with the peak of human activity. In countries with a well-developed power industry, tidal power plants can be a part of the general power distribution system. However, power from a tidal plant would then have to be transmitted a long distance because locations of high tides are usually far away from industrial and urban centers. An attractive future option is to utilize the tidal power in suite for year round production of hydrogen fuel by electrolysis of the water. The hydrogen, lique Red or stored by another method, can be transported anywhere to be used either as a fuel instead of oil or gasoline or in various fuel cell energy systems. Fuel cells convert hydrogen energy directly into electricity without combustion or moving parts, which is then used, for instance, in electric cars. Many scientists and engineers consider such a development as a future new industrial revolution. However, in order to realize this idea worldwide, clean hydrogen fuel would need to be also available everywhere. At present most hydrogen is produced from natural gases and fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and harm the global ecosystem. From this point of view, production of hydrogen by water electrolysis using tidal energy is one of the best ways to develop clean hydrogen fuel by a clean method. Thus, tidal energy can be used in the future to help develop a new era of clean industries, for example, to clean up the automotive industry, as well as other energy-consuming areas of human activity.
Figure shows diagrammatically auto-transformer tap changing. Here, a mid-tapped auto-transformer or reactor is used. One of the lines is connected to its mid-tapping. One end, say a of this transformer is connected to a series of switches across the odd tappings and the other end b is connected to switches across even tappings. A short-circuiting switch S is connected across the auto-transformer and remains in the closed position under normal operation. In the normal operation, there is no inductive voltage drop across the auto-transformer. Referring to Figure, it is clear that with switch 5 closed, minimum secondary turns are in the circuit and hence the output voltage will be the lowest. On the other hand, the output voltage will be maximum when switch 1 is closed. Suppose now it is desired to alter the tapping point from position 5 to position 4 in order to raise the output voltage. For this purpose, short-circuiting switch S is opened, switch 4 is closed, then switch 5 is op...
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