OilPrice.com | Alternative Energy | Tidal Energy

Amid Rising Global Interest in Renewable Energy, Tidal Power to Surge?

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:36:29 GMT

Amid rising global concerns following Japan’s disastrous 11 March 2011 nuclear catastrophe at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex and surging oil prices, renewable energy is receiving increased attention from investors. The leading candidates are solar and wind energy, but both have problems beyond significant investment costs and the fact that they have yet to generate power at competitive rates with more traditional power sources such as oil, coal and natural gas. Beyond issues of power storage, a further concern is the fickle…

Australia Developing Wave Power

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:07:12 GMT

Consider. Australia’s 2,966,140 square-mile landmass is ringed by 16,006 miles of coastline. Most of the population is concentrated along the southeast coast of the country, in an arc running from Brisbane to Adelaide along the "boomerang coast." Virtually all of Australia's large cities - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide - are on the coast. About 80 percent of Australia's population lives within 30 miles of the coast. So, where do the Aussies get their energy to support their affluent lifestyles? Australia is one of the…

How Viable is Tidal Power for the Future?

murphyt@oilprice.com (Tom Murphy) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:35:05 GMT

Now is the time on Do the Math when we scan the energy landscape for viable alternatives to fossil fuels. In this post, we’ll look at tidal power, which is virtually inexhaustible on relevant timescales, is less intermittent than solar/wind (although still variable), and uses old-hat technology to make electricity. For this exercise, we mainly care about the scale at which the alternatives can contribute, leaving practical and economic considerations sitting in the cold for a bit (spoiler alert: most are hard and expensive). Last week, we looked…

Scotland's Tidal Energy Industry Surges to Global Forefront

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:53:40 GMT

Scottish engineers were prominent in Britain’s Industrial Revolution from the beginning of the 18th century. Now a Scottish renewable energy company is continuing that grand tradition of innovation by selling the world’s first commercial-scale wave power machine. Inverness-based Wavegen announced that it has sold an array of 16 turbines to the Ente Vasco de la Energia, the Basque Energy Board in Spain for $1.58 million. On 18 November President of the Basque Country Patxi Lopez inaugurated the Mutriku tidal power facility. Wavegen Chief executive…

British Tidal Power Riding a Wave?

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:53:39 GMT

In a relentless search for alternatives to fossil fuel energy production, many scientists have turned to thinking about how to harness natural renewable forces to generate power. Currently, the two leading contenders are solar and wind power but now, British scientists are attempting to harness the power of the moon to generate energy in the form of tidal power generators. If successful, tidal power could overcome the unpredictability of wind power and the limits of solar power from clouds and night time. Tides are so accurate and predictable…

World’s Largest Tidal Farm to be Launched in Scotland

futuresgr@oilprice.com (Green Futures) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:00:33 GMT

Ten underwater turbines will generate 30GW a year from the seafloor in the Sound of Islay, following government approval. A £40 million tidal array harnessing electricity from one of the UK’s most reliable and strongest tidal streams has been granted approval by the Scottish Government. The 10MW tidal turbine project in the Sound of Islay, between the islands of Islay and Jura, will be the largest scheme of its kind in the world and will generate approximately 30GW per year, enough to power all the homes on Islay and Jura – and,…

UK Could Capture a Quarter of $750bn Marine Energy Market

envfinan@oilprice.com (Environmental Finance) — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:26:35 GMT

Waves and tides could provide up to 240GW of renewable energy globally by 2050, requiring investment of £460 billion ($750 billion), according to the Carbon Trust – although the risk exists of “near zero deployment”, it warns. The Carbon Trust’s marine renewables green growth paper, released on Tuesday, sets out ‘medium’ and ‘high’ deployment scenarios for the growth of wave and tidal technologies, which would account respectively for 75% and 25% of the market. Under a ‘high deployment’…

A Look at Tidal Power

soosi@oilprice.com (Andy Soos) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:21:07 GMT

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. The first large-scale tidal power plant (the Rance Tidal Power Station) started operation in 1966. Harnessing the power of ocean tides has long been imagined, but countries are only now putting it into practice. A demonstration project planned for Puget Sound will be the first tidal energy project on the west coast of the United States, and the first array of large-scale turbines to feed power from ocean…

Irish Conference Seeks to Exploit Island’s Tidal Energy Resources

editor@oilprice.com (Darrell Delamaide) — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:26:03 GMT

An all-Irish conference on exploiting the island’s potential for marine energy brought together 60 U.S. companies with officials from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland this week. The Irish coastline is considered to be among the best in the world for offshore wind, wave and tidal resources, Irish officials said. Both Dublin and Belfast have plans to develop alternative marine energy into a cutting-edge industry. The two-day conference was being held simultaneously in the two capitals. At the conference, Irish electricity supplier…

How Does Tidal Energy Work

admin@oilprice.com (Editorial Dept) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:48:57 GMT

How Does Tidal Energy Work Tidal energy is energy obtained from changing sea levels (the tide moving from high to low and vice versa.) This renewable energy source has great potential as tides are much more predictable than wind power and solar energy which are not at all consistent (seasons, bad weather, etc...) There are three main ways to harness tidal power, these are: Tidal Turbines Tidal turbines use similar technology to wind turbines, although their blades are much shorter and stronger. So a good way to think of them is as underwater windmills.…