There are different places on Earth like the Strait of Hormuz for the Persian Gulf or Bab-al-Mandab Strait for the Red Sea where because of the geography it becomes possible to create a dam. Such macro engineering projects would produce massive amounts of value such as being bridges to cross the sea/ continents and generate massive amounts of power.
Geo politics and the environmental impact these projects would have make them risky or unviable such as the two above. They never make it past some research paper. But what about more out of the way places? Can they be economically feasible? Why or why not would pursuing these be a good idea? Thanks!
Example 1 - Gulf of Aqaba
Is it possible to create a dam towards the end where it meets the Red Sea? Will it produce enough power to make a profit? It's out of the way and with its small area the environmental impact would be minimal relative to damming the entire Red Sea.
Example 2 - The White Sea
Barely anyone lives up there, the area is wholly under one country (Russia) so no one will be complaining about geopolitics. However its cold so the water freezes making the dam unusable and with little meaningful evaporation to change the sea level on either side of the dam, electricity production would be minimal. but global warming could help?
Example 3 - Lake Maracaibo
Follows the same logic as the above examples.
Example 4 - Gulf of California.
And many more.
All follow the same logic. Build a wall, water evaporates from one side to create a difference of water level, and then run it through turbines at a rate where the evaporation matches input (or not and just drain the entire area and start filling it up for more power).
Can these projects be done? Thanks!