We need to get serious about tidal power post COP26

Stuart Murphy, founder of TPGen24, says the government’s approach to renewable energy has become “tunnel-visioned”, with too much emphasis on offshore wind to the exclusion of other technologies, and calls for more investment to explore Britain’s potential to generate power from the tides.

COP26 commences this weekend and, in spite of the considerable hype around the event, I cannot help feeling deflated.

The last six weeks have perfectly encapsulated our unsuitability to chair this international event, which promises to be a lot of “constructive” and meaningful conversations, but inevitably resulting in less tangible action.

For years the UK has talked a good game around renewables, offshore wind in particular, and the green agenda. However, it now seems we’ve approached green energy in a highly fragmented and distinctly tunnel-visioned way.

What’s clear is we need to take a hard look at our energy mix and develop a clear strategy now, primarily one which will prevent society falling back on fossil fuels and expensive imports from sources unknown. Part of this will be widening the scope of investment, redistributing some of those investment eggs which have all been put into the offshore wind basket.

I should add here, I’m not opposed to offshore wind. It’s been a great success story and is an important part of greening our electricity supply. However, it’s not the whole story, and I think, now, in light of recent events most can agree on that point.

Another important challenge will be to address intermittency, which currently hamstrings our most popular renewable resources. Again, as the last month has demonstrated, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun don’t shine, you don’t get any energy (unless you have Putin on speed-dial).

Fortunately, there is one solution which does exist, and yet remains woefully underexplored and under-invested in: tidal. When the PM sat down with Bill Gates last week at the Green Investment Summit, I cannot be the only one disappointed that every option but tidal seemed to be covered.

It was all blue-sky stuff, and distinctly unrelatable. I’ve noticed a distinct trend over the last couple of years, where increasingly far-fetched solutions are suggested to tackle our energy shortages and climate problems in one stroke. Solar satellites beaming energy down to Earth was one of the latest, I think. Next it will probably be a mass evacuation from the planet, as an easier alternative actually facing the challenge head on.

However, I’ve always said there’s no Planet B, so we need to think of some immediate solutions to our current problems before we start looking elsewhere in the galaxy.

We already have a rapidly growing tidal renewables market, and one which is starting, through my own system, to tackle the intermittency problem. But, surprisingly for an island surrounded by some of the world’s best tidal ranges, our policy makers seem reluctant to explore these solutions.

This has to change soon, as tidal is currently the only resource with the scalable potential to help cleanly deliver the essential versatility, flexibility and capacity to complement and support solar and wind, particularly when they cannot deliver, replacing gas and coal.

Ultimately, if we’re going to get really serious about our ambitions for a clean, green high-tech society then we need to establish a playing field where tidal energy innovators feel supported. Currently it seems like short term convenience and pie in the sky speculation is trumping long term ambition, hindering essential innovation in this field.

What’s abundantly clear, is our leaders need to take a long hard look at the current energy mix over the next few weeks and get to the heart of what will support exponential demand increase ten, fifty, a hundred years down the line.

Ultimately, we need to be prepared with a green energy infrastructure that can deliver and it’s not going to be delivered on the current trajectory. The answer is there, we can see it on every shoreline in the world.

We just need to get serious about investing in tidal renewables, after so many centuries of ignoring them, especially if we want to avoid climate catastrophe and deliver the green future that global society aspires to.