In the early stages of a new technology, it can be hard to judge the scale
of the possible economic benefits, but even so, the potential of tidal
energy for Scotland looks impressive.
Engineers from Edinburgh and Oxford universities estimate that turbines
placed in one stretch of the Pentland Firth could generate 1.9 gigawatts of
clean energy – enough to power around half of Scotland.
In some respects, the figure is not at all surprising. Scotland, with its
long coastline, is in a particularly good position to exploit the potential
of tidal energy, although the development of the technology and
infrastructure to make it feasible, and profitable, is still in the early
stages.
There are also lessons to be learned from the mistakes made in the first
phases of the wind farm industry – the most important of which is that
owning an energy resource is not the same as maximising its economic
potential. In the 1970s, Scotland built up an impressive infrastructure to
exploit its oil and gas but in the case of wind farms, much of the
infrastructure and technology ended up being developed and owned abroad.
The same must not be allowed to happen with the nascent tidal industry, but
it will require more money for research and development, particularly by
Scottish firms.
As for public acceptance of the technology, tidal energy has some obvious
advantages over wind energy. Wind farms have met with understandable
opposition in many communities and the accumulation of turbines near
national parks and in other scenic areas is a cause for concern. The
problems with storing electricity from wind power are also well-known.
Tidal power, on the other hand, has potentially none of these problems as
the tides are predictable and constant and the technology is hidden away on
the sea bed, out of sight of any communities that could object. On the down
side, there are still some unanswered questions about the potential risk
the tidal turbines pose to marine life.
As the tidal industry develops, there will be a balancing act to be struck
between these pros and cons and the environmental costs and economic gains
– as there is with any new technology. But, on the face of it, tidal has an
important contribution to make to the nation’s energy demands. Scotland is
already making good progress on meeting its generation targets and tidal
power might even give it the potential to produce surplus energy and export
it, although any talk of becoming the so-called Saudi Arabia of marine
power needs to be treated with caution.
Whatever happens, tidal is unlikely to be a panacea and even when the
technology gets going (and as yet not a single commercial tidal scheme has
been installed in Scotland) it will have to take its place among a sensible
mix of energy sources including wind, nuclear and fossil fuels. The
potential is certainly there in the powerful waters of the Pentland Firth,
but it will require political will, a coherent strategy and more investment
to make it happen.
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