Focus on Energy & Renewables: Waiting for the Wave

Wed 5 Aug 2009

This century the planet will see dramatic changes in the way we produce energy for an ever increasing world population with ever increasing demands for power.

The Ocean covers 75% of our planet, and is one of the most powerful sources of energy we have, though at present it is largely “untapped”. Many technology companies and developers are now looking to change that, and working hard to make hydrokinetic power the next major renewable energy sector.

There are several different routes being considered in terms of future development, namely: ocean wave, tidal stream, river hydrokinetic, ocean current and ocean thermal resources. More than 300 projects are currently in the pipeline around the world, and forecasts show that this industry will grow to provide 2.7 gigawatts of power generation capacity by 2015, up from just 264 megawatts in 2008. The full potential worldwide is of course much, much higher.

The United Kingdom is predicted to be the largest market for wave/tidal energy harnessing, with a total of 60% of the world’s capacity. Why the UK? Three fundamental reasons: Firstly, unprecedented UK coastlines provide excellent wave and tidal resources; secondly, UK funding and market mechanisms are comparatively strong and create strong investor confidence; and thirdly, the UK is already home to a large number of wave & tidal device developers, including some of the market leading designs. Following in the UK’s footsteps, the U.S. is expected to provide around 12% of world resources, closely followed by Portugal with around 10% and Canada with 7%.

Despite some 30+ years concept designing and prototyping to date this is still an emerging sector and the next five years will be crucial in determining which methods of energy harnessing mechanisms will take off. Arguably the attraction of wave and tidal energy over wind is the consistency and permanency of the energy source, as opposed to fluctuations in the source which apply to wind, and to other sources such as solar. But the industry will face many challenges during this period, not least in terms of reliability, cost reduction, consistent investment including private investment, supply chain and logistics. Of course, similar challenges have been met and overcome by other industries in the renewable energy sector, namely “Wind” with remarkable success both across the UK and worldwide.

The question is perhaps not whether hydrokinetic power will catch up to wind in terms of energy production but simply “when”.

For further information on this topic check out these sites:

Wave & Tidal Energy News - http://www.wave-tidal-energy.com/

The Crown Estate - http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/