Technology: Background

Renewable source power is now a priority for policy makers. Global warming and climate change are no longer considered “Chicken Little” concerns espoused by environmental extremists. The world’s scientists[i] have concluded that the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to the acceleration of the greenhouse effect[ii] and resulted in a matrix of ensuing impacts, from the subtle and unnoticed to the dramatic and devastating. The world’s citizens have had diverse reactions, varying in urgency, depending upon their own exposure to the consequences, from the intense concern of the Pacific islanders whose low-lying lands are being inundated by rising ocean levels to the Marie Antoinette-like SUV-driver who resists any restriction on their driving habits. The oil and gas industry privately acknowledges that the end of the fossil fuels era is coming. There is a broad range of predictions (from 10 to 50 years) as to when the use of fossil fuels will diminish to the point of marginal use, but the big energy companies are investing, albeit gingerly, in alternative power technologies and cleaner fossil fuels technologies.

The power generation industry is contemplating the very expensive and complicated transition to new cleaner forms of power generation technology. Their reluctance is understandable. Enormous amounts of money are required to build a power plant and it must function efficiently and reliably for decades in order to recoup that investment. The last time the power generation industry made a broad scale commitment to a new technology was when nuclear power became the new capacity technology of choice during the 1950’s and 60’s. The failure of nuclear power to live up to its promise has resulted in business failures, higher electricity prices for customers, and environmental problems of historical proportion, despite the fact that nuclear technology “works.” Once advertised as being “too cheap to meter,” nuclear power is about twice the cost of other forms of power, without including the cost of disposing of nuclear waste and keeping it safe for hundreds of thousands of years. Recent political events highlight the security risk posed by the lethality of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. Thus, the power generation industry has good historical reasons to be concerned about major changes.

The reluctance of the power generation industry to move to renewable source power is matched by the lack of a clearly preferable choice from the array of candidate renewable technologies. Wind power is the current choice for builders of new capacity, but wind power is still too expensive to compete without government subsidies. Wind power also suffers from the fact that many people oppose the installation of wind farms because they would rather not see the wind turbines (negative “visual impact”). Solar power, wave power, and ocean current power are still in the experimental phase of their development. Energy-from-waste and energy-from-biofuels are technically renewable source power, but ultimately require burning and further carbon dioxide emissions.[i] Hydroelectricity is the largest source of renewable source power, but there are very few available sites left for new hydroelectric generating capacity and proposed projects are frequently met with stiff opposition from environmental groups and local inhabitants[ii], due to the habitat disruption and displacement of humans, plants, and animals caused by hydroelectric dams.

An acceptable power generation technology must be mechanically sound, environmentally acceptable, and economically profitable in order to become a real alternative for builders of new capacity. Offshore tidal power generation has the potential to become an attractive option for power companies looking for renewable source power, but unwilling to accept the risks involved in experimenting with unproven technologies. Tidal power is a form of low-head[iii] hydroelectricity and uses familiar low-head hydroelectric generating equipment, such as has been in use for more than 120 years. The placement of the impoundment offshore, rather than using the conventional “barrage”[iv] approach, eliminates environmental and economic problems that have prevented the deployment of commercial-scale tidal power plants.

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[i] The growing of the biofuels absorbs CO2 and burning it is said to result in a net reduction in CO2

[ii] Often referred to as “NIMBY-ism” (Not In My Back Yard)

[iii] Low-head

[iv] A “barrage” is a dam across a tidally-effected estuary or inlet that uses the head created by tidal action for power generation.

Tidal Electric
50 Albemarle St, 3rd Floor
London W1S 4BD
United Kingdom

Phone: 44 (0) 207 692 7557
Fax: 44 (0) 208 254 4929

US Phone: 860 408 1400
Email: inquires@tidalelectric.com