The "global" theory established by BETZ shows that the mechanical power collected on the shaft of

an ideal receiver propeller may not exceed

16/2 ! "#$%& of the energy of the fl'id stream which passes thro'gh the circle swept by the
propeller#
(e easily ded'ce that the maxim'm theoretical power ( may be collected on the shaft 2 of an ideal
helix m swept area perpendic'lar to the velocity ) of the fl'id at infinity is expressed as*
( ! "#& +)/1",-& in air
( ! &"" +)/1",-& in water
.n these form'las/ ( is expressed in 0ilowatts and ) in m / s#
(e now denote by "raw power/" according to the theoretical power BETZ and calc'lated#
The raw energy E for a period of time T will obvio'sly be expressed as*
E=

"
T
W dt
.n this form'la for explaining a propeller powered by water/ there are
E="#&

"
T
V
&
dt
The expression is simply the mean ordinate of the c'rve ) ! f +t,1 we denote by the average c'bic
speed )& 2#
(e call ann'al gross energy val'e of E calc'lated from the c'bic velocity on average a period of
one year#
3f raw power and energy of the propeller shaft to the power and energy available ( 4and E4 across
the electric generation matrix by m'ltiplying the first by a factor 5 overall performance ta0ing into
acco'nt the specific yields one passes propeller/ transmission and electric generator schemes
considered#
6'blication 7o# 82 9 +"Tidal c'rrents in the English :hannel and the ;rench coast of the 9tlantic",
established by the <ydrographer of the 7avy 'nder the direction of 2r# =9:32BE provides many
points for the coast of ;rance/ speed and direction of c'rrents every ho'r "ro'nd" in the tides
average spring tide +>>, +coefficient %$, and average neap tide +coefficient 8$,1 ;ig're 8 shows the
c'rves obtained from this doc'ment to the station* "The 6lace" on the coast of Brittany#
?trictly spea0ing/ the calc'lation of the ann'al average speed wo'ld involve planim@trage c'bic
c'rve relating to each tide# ;ort'nately/ we were able to chec0 A as for the calc'lation of the energy
s'pplied by a tidal power plant A one gets a very good approximation of the gross ann'al energy
from one site to ocean c'rrents from those corresponding to three tides types of respective
coefficients %$/ " and 8$ by applying the following form'la*
E ! "#&E
%$
B "#8E
"
B "#&E
8$
E is the ann'al gross energy so'ght1 E %$ E " E 8$/ the ann'al gross energy calc'lated ass'ming
all the tides of the year coefficients respectively %$/ " and 8$#
+>>,
;or any tide/ we proceed by extrapolation from the two aforementioned tides ass'ming that c'rrent
velocity varies linearly with the tidal coefficient +see ;ig# &,
Table .. below gives 0(h per m gross ann'al energy/ calc'lated as described in the preceding
paragraph/ relating to some marine sites feat'res# ;or comparison/ we have incl'ded the
corresponding fig'res in some wind farms based on s'rveys 'sing co'nters recommended by 2r#
9illeret
+>,
#
(e see that the gross energy in a marine site is still several times higher than that corresponding to
the homologo's wind sites1 will this be eno'gh to compensate for the obvio's additional diffic'lties
in their development and exploitationC
The calc'lation of the ann'al energy available across the electric generator for a specific site
reD'ires the st'dy yields the propeller/ transmission and electric machine with widely varying
regimes imposed by the fl'ct'ations of ocean c'rrent# These ret'rns are relatively well 0nown as a
res'lt of st'dies and tests on wind generators and can be applied witho't great ris0 if homologo's
marine eD'ipment#