PROFILE
HUMANS HAVE HARVESTED energy from bodies of water long before the invention of the light bulb . The ancient Romans notably used water mills in early industrial processes , like large-scale grain grinding and ore crushing . Increasingly , modern civilisations are realising just how much power marine energy can yield — and how these sources could be a vital addition to existing generation capacity .
“ The Carbon Trust did some work a few years ago which offered estimates on how much energy is harvestable , and they estimated that the UK could probably provide around a fifth of its electricity from wave and tidal energy ,” says Neil Kermode , the Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre ( EMEC ), based in Orkney . “ And that ’ s about the same as nuclear is doing currently .”
EMEC , which offers marine energy developers the opportunity to test their technologies in an open-sea environment , is the only centre of its kind in operation today . Its clients are primarily involved in the production of converters for wave and tidal stream energy . The former is , in effect , ‘ old ’ wind energy : as wind blows onto the surface of the ocean it produces waves , and energy is then extracted by harnessing the up and down motion of the water .
Conversely , tidal energy is driven by the larger-scale movement of the planets . The gravitational pull of the sun and moon produces tides which ebb and flow across the earth ’ s surface . The rapid movement of water through gaps and corners in coastline can be channelled into electricity via a turbine which
8 September 2016