Economic Analysis

Introduction

 

The tidal stream energy in UK has the potential to produce between 5 and 16 GW of electircal power. This amount of power could account for up to 10% of the UK's electricity demand , which is equivalent to a reduction in carbon dioxide levels of 37 - 118 MtCO2. Due to tidal power huge potential in the UK, investors have become interested in the technology and new system designs and installation methods are being researched in order to drive the current cost of the technology down.


During recent years the interest in tidal stream energy has increased in UK and many types of devices have emerged on the market. However, most tidal energy devices are still at the early stages development and even the most advanced concepts are just beginning to undergo sea trials up at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. In order to be competitive with other renewable source technologies many tidal energy companies require support and investment in order to extend their innovations and take them to market.

Tidal stream projects in different locations may require a different style of device-this may be due to different site characteristics, limitations and the required energy output of a site. The financial analysis of this project does not input a cost for each type of device configuration due to the difficulty of accessing all of the information required to make a financial assessment.