Size of the market
In the United Kingdom, the exploitable tidal energy resource has been estimated as being sufficient to generate 94 Terra Watt hours per year of electricity in water depths of 40 meters or less*. This is equivalent to about one quarter of the UK’s current annual electricity consumption. CoRMaT is able to operate in even deeper water depths than this, offering the opportunity to considerably increase the UK's harvestable resource.
To fully harvest the UK's resource it is likely that devices with power ratings between 250KW and 5MW will be used. Over 26 Gigawatts of capacity will be needed to fully capture this tidal power, resulting in a market in the UK alone for many thousands of devices.
Library
Links to useful, interesting third party information:
- Introduction to tidal power
- Assessing a tidal resource
- Putting costs into perspective
- The Scottish Government on marine energy
- Environmental impact of marine renewable energy production (Scotland)
- Environmental impact of marine renewable energy production (Bay of Fundy, Canada)
- Scottish national tidal resources
National Policy
National policies and visions with respect to “green energy” generation: