Marine energy: getting power from tides and waves

Marine renewable energy has the potential to make a significant contribution to energy supplies in the future. Tidal barrages and wave energy could make the largest contribution, both in the UK and elsewhere, and tidal streams could make a smaller but still useful contribution. This paper provides an overview of the current status and prospects for electrical generation from marine energy. It concludes that a realistic target contribution to UK electricity supplies would be about 75 TWh. However, although tidal power is predictable, all forms of marine energy are variable and intermittent and integration into the electrical grid is a critical issue if they are to achieve their potential contribution.