Challenges and the Future
Still at the prototype stage, wave and tidal stream energy conversion is relatively expensive at present and it is hard to make it economic - a problem faced by the vast majority of new technologies. As happened with wind power, the different concepts will eventually come into focus and the costs will fall to be comparable with other forms of energy generation.
The key question is how quickly this will happen. Work continues to try to improve the survivability of the devices - their chances of being deployed at sea without being damaged or destroyed - and also to reduce the costs of manufacturing, installing and maintaining them. The development process is being helped along as quickly as possible by schemes like the npower juice fund and the Government's Marine Renewables Development Fund. Once full scale demonstration projects have proved themselves, it is hoped that larger wave and tidal energy farms will be soon to follow.
One of the major problems facing marine energy is the issue of grid connection. As with wind power, often the best resource, especially for waves, is in remote, sparsely populated places where there is limited or no existing grid. This is one of the issues that the Path to Power report seeks to address.
The future of marine renewables is bright and exciting. Several demonstration projects are being planned in the coming years, and if these are successful, they will pave the way for wave and tidal power to play a big part in cutting CO2 emissions and meeting the UK's future energy needs.
