Tidal power generation in Europe will increase by 50% in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to a report published on Monday 23 March by Ocean Energy Europe (OEE), a network of organisations in the ocean energy sector.
This represents an increase of 15 GWh produced, enough to supply 4,000 households. By the end of 2019, cumulative production had reached 49 GWh.
“With improving efficiency and falling costs, tidal energy is all set to become a mainstream power source”, says OEE.
As the world leader in this field, Europe now has a total tidal power generation capacity of 27.7 MW, almost four times more than the rest of the world.
Nevertheless, the gap is narrowing, notes OEE. Buoyed by sustained investment in research, development and innovation, projects with a combined capacity of 1.8 MW were notably installed by China and the United States in 2019.
According to OEE CEO Rémi Gruet, “European governments should take note of the fact that revenue support has been the driver of significant progress in Canada and China”.
He added, “Predictable ocean energy, producing at different times from wind and solar, will be a vital tool to support the transformation of Europe’s energy system towards a zero-carbon future”.
To consult the report: https://bit.ly/2Jb6zwR (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)