Could the UK's tides help wean us off fossil fuels?
Full details
| Authors & editors | |
| Publisher | BBC News |
| Year of publication | 2003 October 22 |
| Languages | |
| Medium | Digital Note: Copyright restrictions mean the attachment below only contains part of the publication. The full document is available for inspection at the Mills Archive Research and Education Centre. |
| Edition | 1 |
| Topics | Generation of Electricity > Hydropower |
| Tags | |
| Scope & content | Great progress has been made exploiting wind and solar technology, but if we are going to switch to more renewable power, we need all the energy we can get. Tidal power represents a huge store of it, and the UK - an island nation which experiences some of the world's most powerful tides - is uniquely well-placed to exploit that resource. "Tidal power has really significant potential," says Dr Amanda Smyth from the University of Oxford, "yet it has never been developed at scale." She believes that is set to change. British companies are at the forefront of the effort to harvest this power of the tide. Designs include an underwater kite that "flies" in the water to maximise the speed the rotors spin. tidal power research has moved to the energy contained in tidal streams - the currents of water created by the rise and fall of the tides. They run fastest where constrictions, like straits or inlets, funnel the water, increasing the speed of the flow. The UK is at the forefront of tidal stream research. All sorts of ingenious devices are being tested in the stormy waters off our coasts. The Orkney Islands, 20 miles to the north of the Scottish mainland, have some of the most extreme tidal streams which is why the European Marine Energy Centre was set up there two decades ago. The biggest array - and the most straightforward design - is being installed by the Scottish company, MeyGen. Its idea is simple: plant a series of huge turbines on the seafloor so the blades spin as the water flows past. Four have been installed to date, each with three 16m blades. The Orbital O2 is a very different design. It is an enormous yellow lozenge moored to the seafloor with two giant turbines attached on what look like great wings. The 680-tonne monster floats on the surface with the rotors lowered into the water. Its makers say it is the most powerful tidal stream turbine in the world and can meet the electricity demand of 2,000 homes. |
| Web URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67170625 |