Government urged to make tidal stream a ‘strategic priority’

Tidal stream power should be a strategic priority for the UK, a leading climate change expert has urged.

Lord Stern – who chairs the London School of Economics’ Grantham Institute of Climate Change – made the remarks in the university’s report on the UK’s sustainable energy opportunities.

In particular, the report says the UK has an opportunity to take a lead in rolling out tidal stream technology with the potential to deliver 100GW of electricity worldwide.

Tidal stream works by using the energy of moving water to power turbines like happens with wind.

The UK hosts the world’s first commercial scale and grid-connected tidal stream generator and ranks fifth highest globally for the number of patents for the technology.

Lord Stern writes in the foreword for the report that building domestic capacity in tidal stream should be a strategic priority for the UK.

He adds that while the government’s CfD mechanism has been “remarkably successful” at bringing down the cost of offshore wind generation, the UK has missed opportunities to develop a supply chain in the sector.

“There is an opportunity to link domestic deployment ambitions with support for a strong domestic supply chain right from the start, in contrast to the experience with wind power,’ he writes, adding that this approach could cut the cost of tidal stream energy.

The recommendations of the report, which is entitled Sustainable growth opportunities from tidal stream energy in the UK , include a continuation of ringfenced CfD support for tidal stream energy.

The authors also call for greater clarity over budgeting, which should be awarded several years in advance for each successive allocation round.

A continuous pipeline of tidal stream projects in the CfD could be achievable provided the industry is given a minimum three years advance notice period of auction parameters, the report suggests.

Tidal stream has recently been awarded a ringfenced pot in the CfD auction process because its projects cannot compete on price with more mature technologies like offshore wind.

In the latest CfD allocation round, tidal stream cleared at a strike price of £179/MWh, compared to £37/MWh for the cheapest offshore wind.

However the relatively expensive price of tidal stream means that it requires an explicit statement of government ambition to help drive private sector investment into the domestic supply chain, says the LSE report.

The report also recommends the development of a strategy for the offshore economy, pulling together tidal stream, CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage) and offshore wind.

The UK’s specialisation in tidal stream means that it has potential to deliver greater economic development benefits than other clean energy technologies, including nuclear and CCUS, it says.

Richard Arnold, policy director of the Marine Energy Council, said: “The UK is a global leader in tidal stream energy and has over 11GW of accessible capacity.

“With over 90% of the world’s economy now covered by net zero targets, the demand for predictable renewable power will continue to grow. The UK Government must act to maintain its leadership and support British companies exporting innovative tidal stream technology around the world.”