Tidal Energy – By Guest Blogger Anil

Water covers about 70 percent of our planet, majorly composed of the oceans with endless waves and perpetual tides. Water is a source that lays the foundation for many forms of renewable energies like Hydro energy, Ocean energy, Tidal energy and Wave energy. With the advent of newer renewable energy sources, water is heavily counted upon as the source of green energy. The major advantage of water based energy sources is that water can be harnessed to create energy with almost zero carbon emission.

One of the forms of energy generation using water is tidal energy, which has been in use since the seventh century. In that era, energy was harnessed with the help of tide mills. In today’s scenario, there are many technological advances that have helped in the development and efficiency of this source of energy. There are lots of developments and they will continue to happen but it is imperative to know if these developments are worth the investment in tidal energy being made in this regard.

Despite of many companies making efforts in this direction, tidal power installations have been stuck in pilot stage and the bigger projects have faced technical difficulties and even lack of funding in some instances. For the generation of tidal energy, tidal turbines are used which are quite expensive. The startup cost is high and the construction of a tidal power station is a lengthy process. The construction may take as long as ten years to build the station. With addition to this, the entire process may gulp millions of dollars for the establishment. Not only the establishment cost, but the subsequent maintenance costs are also high. The Barrage system of the tidal plant requires a lot of maintenance and salt resistant parts. The purpose of development and generation of tidal power is to ensure the generation of clean energy in a cost effective manner.

On the contrary, tidal power is neither entirely clean nor cost effective. Tidal power stations add to the carbon content in the atmosphere as fossil fuels are needed to run these power stations. True, the usage of fossil fuels and resultant emissions are comparatively less, they are still in the picture. They are also expensive compared with natural gas and coal based power plants for generating energy. Some researchers believe that the biggest drawback of tidal energy is that it is one of the most expensive of all clean energy options. According to a study by consulting firm Black and Veatch (B&V) for the California Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (CRETI), specifically in California, a marine current power generation can cost in a range of US$410 to US$450 for every MWh. On the other hand, renewable sources such as wind and geothermal energy generation projects would cost about US$150 per MWh. The comparison clearly shows the difference in the cost of various forms of energy generation compared with tidal energy.