To add another twist to the discussion, consider if the barge were not a floating vessel at all, but rather an empty cylinder which filled and emptied with the tide, and used turbines to harness energy from the water moving in and out. Theoretically, the energy would be identical to a barge...
Thank you Berkman for the info! I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this. If you don't mind, I have couple additional questions based on your response.
You calculated Pave (what is Pave?) as the E / (3600 * 24) - but the piston changes every 6 hours, so would the 24 be replaced...
I have been kicking around an idea for a while about generating electricity from ocean tides. The traditional approach is to use the flow of water through a channel to turn a turbine, which essentially blocks the channel for sea life and water craft.
It seems more practical to use the rise and...