Tides are generated due to gravitational pull between the high tide called flood tide and the low tide called ebb tide may be as high as low. Therefore this differential head could be utilized in operating a hydraulic turbine and the mechanical power generated by the hydraulic turbine can be used to run a generator to produce electric power.

       In case of power generation by tides the water during high tides is first trapped in an artificial basin and then it is allowed to escape during the period of low tides. The water while escaping is utilized to run a hydraulic turbine coupled to a generator.

       The first tidal power plant was commissioned by General DeGaulle at La France in 1966.
      The three main components of a tidal power plant are :-
(i) The power house.
(ii)The dam to form basin.
(iii)Sluice ways from the basin to the sea       and vice versa
       The function of the dam is form a barrier between the sea and the basin.
       The sluice ways are used either to fill the basin during high tide or empty the basin during the low tide.

       A tidal power plant based on single basin system shown in below figure.
Fig:-Single basin one way system of tidal power plant.

Here the power house is situated at the mouth of basin. The hydraulic turbine in the power house only operates during the discharge of water from the basin during ebb tide. During the high tide the basin is again filled. The main disadvantage is that the system's operation is intermittent in nature.