Funding a sea change in energy generation
New technology is aiming to harness the power of the tides to deliver clean, green energy.
Darlington-based C-Power is using a £60,000 investment from the POC Fund to develop marine current turbines that, size for size, can generate energy up to ten times more efficiently than wind farms.
These underwater turbines will be invisible from the shore. By tapping into an estimated £6 billion UK tidal energy market, they have the potential to cut damaging carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the need for fossil fuel-powered reactors.
C-Power Director Colin Pearce said: “We are working to deliver commercially competitive power in a totally clean, green and unseen way.
“POC funding is helping us to develop this technology and prove its worth.
“Despite tidal water speeds generally being much slower than air, the amount of power carried in a given volume of water can typically be ten times greater.
“This means that energy extraction from water can be significantly more efficient.
“On top of that it is extremely predictable, reliable and perhaps equally important for potential objectors, invisible and environmentally neutral.
“Tidal marine energy is still at a formative stage, and generation is currently sub-commercial. C-Power is on course to change that, and become the leading provider of sea power, in the UK and across Europe.”
