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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Marine power – making waves or a drop in the ocean?
8/6/2022
6 min read
Feature
Still to make a substantial contribution to total energy needs, how important might marine energy – tidal, wave and wave/wind hybrids – eventually become? Charlie Bush listened in to a seminar at the recent All-Energy exhibition and conference held on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow.
Industry leaders in ocean energy, experts in harnessing energy from waves, tidal changes and currents, reviewed the current state of their sector and what is needed for oceanic power to reach the scale necessary to contribute towards net zero emissions targets in a serious way.
Several of the panellists referred to tidal as the largest untapped renewable energy source on the planet, with some 500 GW of unharnessed generating potential worldwide. Some estimates for the theoretical resource potential of all marine energy are as high as 20,000–80,000 TWh/y in electricity generation, equivalent to 100–400% of today’s global demand for electricity.
Nevertheless, as Martin Carruth from Marine Power Systems, commented: ‘It’s not just about more energy capacity; it’s about providing energy when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.’ Orbital Marine Power’s Chris Milne agreed: ‘The current bankable renewable technologies are seasonal and/or weather dependent so there’s a huge need for ocean power to work in tandem with them.’