Tidal Energy Assessment of River Karnaphuli: A Technical Analysis

Most of the power generation in Bangladesh is gas-based and approximately 92% is based on fossil fuel which is a major problem for this country. Consequently, the government is searching for alternate energy sources, particularly renewable energy. In recent years solar energy has become popular by the government and people's support. Despite having a huge potential for tidal energy, there is no such step to harness it yet. This paper mainly focuses on the tidal energy potential of the Karnaphuli River and proposes a tidal barrage for Khal No-18. Being the most potent location of river Karnaphuli for tidal power in terms of tidal height, there has been no substantial work available for this location. The main focus of the study is tidal range variation, mean potential energy, approximate peak and lowest potential in every month of a year, and estimation of annual power output by tidal energy from the location Khal no 18. At the same time, this study contains a proposal for a tidal barrage with turbine numbers and also suggests for higher efficiency of power generation.