‘The average rated capacity of wave energy devices over the past three years (2015-2017) was 70% lower than (in) the period between 2000 and 2014. In contrast tidal stream saw a 124% increase in the average rated capacity during the same period’. So says a report from Imperial College London and Strathclyde University, looking at what went wrong with the UK wave energy programme. It’s no secret that wave energy has not developed as fast as tidal stream energy technology. Many wave devices have been tested and some are still under test, but it has proved harder to extract energy from the often turbulent wave environment than from the relatively calm undersea tidal flows. There have also been funding and programme management issues, as this new study reports. It claims that there was premature emphasis on commercialization. The requirement for state-supported developers to secure private-sector match funding had brought ‘intense investor pressure to reach commercialisation as quickly as possible’.
Environmental Research Web 11th Nov 2017 read more »
