U.K. Tidal Energy Project Sparks First Electricity

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Tidal energy specialist Pulse Tidal Limited (Sheffield, England) has announced that the company's shallow water prototype is the first in the world to supply predictable electricity onshore. The small 100-kilowatt PS100 prototype system, which is located in the Humber Estuary on the northeast coast of England, is now sending power onshore to Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (Stallingborough), the first U.K. company to take a direct feed from tidal power. The project might be small but the Carbon Trust (London) believes that worldwide tidal energy market will eventually generate more than 120 terawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to at least £6 billion worth of power. For additional information, see related news item from July 8, 2009 - U.K. To Lead in Global Offshore Wind and Wave Power Market.

Sheffield-based Tidal Power claims that the device proves that the company's tidal energy solution can massively reduce the investment required to install, connect and maintain devices compared to offshore wind farms. A full-scale 1-megawatt (MW) device, providing enough power for 1,000 homes, is now under way, but the company will not announce the location until later this year.

The Humber prototype system is based simply around tidal streams moving horizontal blades up and down to drive a generator. The company is convinced that its approach can surpass wind turbines as the most economic source of offshore power and, because the device fully submerged, avoid the visual and environmental protests that plague many windfarms.

Pulse Tidal's Chief Executive Bob Smith said: "The last few months of operation have shown that the Pulse concept offers an economic way to recover predictable, renewable energy from the tides. According to the latest industry figures, offshore wind energy costs between 8p and 11p per kilowatt-hour to produce. We believe that the Pulse system will be more cost effective than offshore wind.

"In fact, offshore wind power costs have been rising. The government has responded to this by increasing the incentives for offshore wind projects from 1.5 ROCs [Renewables Obligation Certificates] to 2 ROCs. Unless it is matched by an increase in incentives for Tidal Power, this short-term measure will divert investment from technologies like ours, which can ultimately be more cost-effective."

Smith continued: "Pulse's first device has opened up shallow water resources close to shore for direct connection to end users. Our next device will be much larger, providing power for around 1,000 homes. It will be able to operate in a wide range of water depths, but we will focus initially on the shallow sites, since they offer lower cost and are less complex. We are currently negotiating the location for our first full-scale project, which will begin operation in 2012."

Jamie O'Nians of investment partner IT Power (Chineham, England) and project director of the PS100, added: "The success of this project differentiates it from other technologies and places it in the a unique and exciting position of generating predictable power from a well understood resource close to the end user. The benefits of shallow water tidal resources are clear, and there is now the technology to exploit it."

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.

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