Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has published a report on future commercially competitive cost of tidal and wave energy.
The report states that tidal energy has the potential to compete with other low carbon sources, and that cost reduction is to be achieved with coordinated investment in supply chain innovation, processes and people.
The potential impact of the tidal stream energy industry on UK GDP is estimated to be in the range of GBP 1.4 – 4.3 billion.
Tidal energy is capable of supplying 20 – 100 TWh of the 350 TWh of the UK’s annual electricity demand, and the 2020 target for levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) is set between 10 and 20 p/kWH, the report reads.
The report concludes that in order to achieve the cost competitiveness of tidal energy an array-scale engineering is essential rather than component focused approach.
Stuart Bradley, the ETI’s Offshore Renewables Strategy Manager said: “Tidal stream energy has the potential to compete with other low carbon sources. From a tidal perspective the innovation needs are known so the focus should be on putting them together rather than any reinvention.”
When it comes to wave energy, the report states that more work needs to be done if wave energy is to become cost competitive, and that wave energy technologies are unlikely to make a significant contribution to the UK energy system.
Bradley added: “Our wave energy converter work shows that the design convergence of arrays and device systems is essential, but the industry needs a radical rethink to reconsider its approach to extracting and converting wave energy for lower cost solutions in the longer term.”
ETI is a public-private partnership between global energy and engineering companies and the UK Government, whose role is to connect academia, industry and the government to accelerate the development of low carbon technologies.
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Image: EMEC/Illustration