1 February 2009
UK: Fledgling tidal industry on the rise
The UK has some of the world's most powerful tidal conditions but only now is the tidal industry starting to make progress
It is easy to regard tidal power as one of the poor relations in the race to meet global renewable energy targets. Wind and solar are already up and running commercially, while wave power is the most advanced of the marine technologies. But a series of prototype tidal projects are making progress in the UK. The country offers some of the world's most powerful tidal conditions, in areas such as the estuary of the River Severn in England and the Pentland Firth in Scotland. Estimates of the country's tidal-power potential range from 5 gigawatts (GW) to 15 GW. UK firm Marine Current Turbines (MCT) said in January that its £12m ($17.4m) SeaGen prototype project, operating at Strangford Lough in N
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