NOT ALL AT SEA turns the tide rushes past .
Other methods — like tidal barrages and salinity gradients — exist for generating energy from large bodies of water . However , EMEC is focussed on the development of wave and tidal stream schemes . Now , the question on the lips of the technology ’ s investors and developers is : will the UK truly derive 20 percent of electricity from the oceans which surround it ?
“ It really depends on how hard we try and whether we get the prices down from the present research and development stages ,” says Kermode .
“ The particular advantage that wave and tidal offers the UK is that it is an inexhaustible resource and if we can provide a fifth of our electricity from our own waters , it means that there is a recirculation of capital within the economy , and it gives us sovereignty over what happens .”
The United Kingdom , and other countries with long stretches of westfacing coastlines , are well-placed to incorporate wave or tidal energy into their respective energy mixes . Stronger waves tend to blow in from the West — as in Ireland , Portugal , Spain and
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