Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray L
Am I missing something? I cannot understand why tidal use is not being used to generate electricity.
Tides happen twice day without fail (24/7 x 365 days a year) and it's FREE. If flowing water can be used to power hydro/electric dams, then why not sea water?
The relevant turbines could surely be hidden beneath the water, unlike unsightly wind turbines and surely not that expensive to maintain.
This Country is very fortunate in being an island, we have 1,000 miles plus of coast line with many estuaries and inlets.
I have seen nothing mentioned on the current media about this amazing available resource.
Please DEBATE!
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This has been debated before. I can't remember all the issues, but among the key problems were (a) the cost of building infrastructure strong enough to cope with the power of the tide and able to resist being immersed in salt water for decades (b) the fact that the estuaries with the most tidal activity are usually busy shipping lanes (and if you put the machinery too deep it will miss most of the energy) and (c) the impact on marine life and even coastal erosion given the possibility of altering the natural tidal flows.
If it was possible, it would have been done already. To me the only realistic solution to meeting our energy needs without creating emissions is nuclear. Cue lots of frothing about Fukushima and Chernobyl, but to me there's a fairly obvious difference between either of those (very different) events and a modern European nuclear industry. The French seem to have done pretty well out of it for decades already.