The Rance Tidal Power Station

River Rance mouth in the Atlantic French coast hosts the Rance tidal power station. During 45 years Rance tidal power station was the largest of the world. Since its first operation in 1.967 until 2.011 (when the Sihwa Lake Korean tidal power plant openened) Rance power plant is a reference for tidal power in the world. The power plant is composed of 24 turbines, each one with a capacity of 10MW, counting a total capacity installed of 240MW.

River Rance, Dinan, Brittany, France, before reaching the Tidal Power Station. Photo: Mike Cattell (Flickr)

The tidal range in Rance is up to 8m high. The owner of the power station is the French national energy company (EDF). The annual electricity generation accounts for 600GWh, corresponding to the same amount of energy consumed by 40.000 families. It took almost 20 years for the Rance tidal power plant to pay for itself, so it is possible to say that nowadays the energy obtained from this power plant is much less expensive that using any other energy source. It is estimated that the electricity production cost in Rance is around 1,8c per KWh, even cheaper than in a nuclear power plant.

During all the time of operation this tidal power station has been used to understand and investigate the type of impacts that a tidal power plant installation can cause to the environment. Many studies have been carried out during all these years and all this knowledge should be used to minimise the environmental impact of future tidal power plants.

The Rance tidal power station has become a pilgrimage place for eco-tourists. Each year more than 40.000 people visit the power plant and its museum.

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