Energy SecurityTidal Stream Power Can Generate 11% of U.K. Electricity Demand

Published 10 November 2021

Tidal stream power has the potential to deliver 11 percent of the U.K. current annual electricity and play a significant role in the government’s drive for net-zero.

Tidal stream power has the potential to deliver 11 percent of the U.K. current annual electricity and play a significant role in the government’s drive for net-zero, according to new research.

Scientists and engineers from across the U.K. say that harnessing the power of the ocean’s tidal streams can provide a predictable and reliable means of helping to meet the country’s future energy demand.

However if that is to be realized, it will require government funding to accelerate innovation and drive down its cost, mirroring our experience with offshore wind, so that future projects can provide cheap electricity.

The study – published in Royal Society Proceedings A and led by the University of Plymouth with contributions from the University of Southampton’s Professor David White – has been released just a day before world leaders meet at the COP26 conference in Glasgow to discuss the need for global agreements on clean energy.

Dr. Danny Coles, Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth and the study’s lead author, said: “Our study shows there is considerable evidence to support an estimate that the U.K. and British Channel Islands’ tidal stream energy resource can provide 11 percent of our current annual electricity demand. Achieving this would require around 11.5 GW of tidal stream turbine capacity to be installed, and we currently stand at just 18 MW. It took the UK offshore wind industry approximately 20 years to reach 11.5 GW of installed capacity. If tidal stream power is going to contribute to the net zero transition, time is of the essence.”

The regions with the highest tidal stream resource are the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters, Scotland, and the Channel Islands – but both would require major grid infrastructure to connect them to high demand centers. In tandem with that, however, other sites could be more easily developed on the South Coast of England and in the Bristol Channel, as they are in closer proximity to existing grid infrastructure and demand centers.

Professor David White, of the University of Southampton, said “This study shows that tidal energy, if developed and exploited strategically around the U.K., can provide a predictable contribution to a diverse decarbonized energy mix for the U.K. It can also be a technology that the U.K. can take a leading role in globally. Our review has been released with perfect timing, as governments meet at COP26 to agree actions to address climate change.”