If the location isn’t right for a barrage, it’s also theoretically possible to build a semicircular seawall out into the sea to create a lagoon that traps water—what’s essentially a gigantic, sci-fi sea dam. As the tide recedes, a difference in water level builds between the lagoon and the surrounding water. Once the difference is large enough, sluice gates open so that the water rushes through the gaps and sets underwater turbines in motion.
But tidal projects haven’t just fallen through due to lack of funding—there are environmental concerns too. The UK’s most ambitious tidal proposal—a £30 billion project harnessing the enormous tidal power of the Severn Estuary, which would link the English and Welsh coasts with a barrage—was abandoned in 2010, partly to avoid disrupting birds that feed and winter in the area.
Fears that turbine blades can injure marine animals have also been a dampener. In 2021, a 37-year-old tidal power plant in Canada was shut down partly because the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had found that the plant’s turbine . Turbines can also disrupt the mixing of water between the seabed and the surface, which is important for cycling nutrients in the sea and sustaining the food web., Michela De Dominicis and her colleagues at the UK’s National Oceanography Center showed that even if some 19,000 turbines were installed in Scottish waters and water mixing was disrupted, this would still have a net positive environmental impact because of the clean energy generated.
Yes, tidal power remains expensive, but then so were solar and wind power just a few years ago. Then along came subsidies, up went investment and adoption, and the rest is history. And unlike so many other renewable energy sources, tidal has one big advantage: The sea never stops churning. “Tidal energy can complement wind and solar to provide benefits to the energy system as a whole,” says Coles.
WiredUK - It's expensive (and environmentally dangerous), govt $ make it cheaper? - Production costs, a limited number of suitable locations, and technological challenges hinder its expansion. - Wind and solar produce power about 50% of the time, and must be backed by fossil fuels. -
WiredUK should be non ivasive though.. biggest sea dam in france had major changes to the eco system as a result. I like the floating turbines much better (maintenance much easier & models with tidal plus wind are in testing phase at the moment)
WiredUK You can't use tidal, solar or windmills to create plastics, fertilizers, antibiotics, tires, clothes, or grow food. Everything we have is due to fossils fuels.
WiredUK 'follow wind and solar,' expensive boondogales which have done little to reduce CO2 or produce energy on an industrial scale but have plunged Europe into a self-inflicted energy crisis. Nuclear and clean burning American Natural Gas are the future. Fusion power after that.
WiredUK It will never work