Tidal turbines that survive?

Tidal turbines offer an exciting opportunity to exploit ocean current flows to generate sustainable energy. However, a key to their success is the ability to operate with minimal intervention in the ocean over extended periods (15-20 years). This talk explored the likely design and operational issues that will influence satisfactory performance associated with material corrosion and biofouling. The main difficulty is that turbine economic viability is capital driven so whole system, including operation and maintenance needs to be as cost-effective as possible. Although can use approaches developed from those applied for ship design and in the offshore industry there is a need to appreciate that cost-drivers are different. For instance a ‘Gold plated’ technology approach from oil and gas industry may not deliver cost-effective solutions.