Present and Future Technology of Tidal Energy

Tidal energy is considered part of the clean energy movement. So, what about present and future technology of tidal energy and how will it provide us with much needed energy?

Tidal energy is a naturally occurring force. It is derived from the spinning of the planet and the impact of gravity upon the oceans. The moon does not orbit the earth at the same pace as the planet spins. This causes drag. The drag is insufficient to move the land, but is powerful enough to impact the liquid oceans. This is shown in the two daily tides.


Present Technology

Tidal energy is all about harvesting the massive amount of energy in the moving tides. As of the writing of this article, the present technology is in an infancy stage. Unlike solar and wind power, tidal energy has only begun to attract attention in the last few years. This means there are a host of ideas, but no functioning systems producing energy on a large scale these days.

The current technology is based primarily on two approaches. The first is the turbine approach. Devices are placed in the tides that contain fan like devices in them. As the tide moves past, the blades spin and crank a generator that produces electricity. You can think of it as a wind turbine in the water.

The second approach is the bobbing top approach. A device is laid horizontally or vertically in the water. As the tide passes, it generates waves. They are often small, but each one creates an up down motion. The tidal devices try to take advantage of this by having devices in them that move up and down with the waves. When they move, they produce energy through a crank or generator. This is also a component of what is known as wave technology.



Future Technology

The future is so bright that tidal energy developers have to wear shades. This is primarily because they are standing on shorelines around the world and staring out to sea trying to come up with some way to harness all that energy. To be honest, they haven’t figured it out. Most tidal energy platforms simply borrow from other pre-existing ideas. Moving salt water presents an entirely different set of problems than any other energy source. Given this, I doubt we will see a final solution that really looks like any of the ideas on the drawing board today.

The present state of technology in tidal power may be a bit laughable, but the future possibilities are not. The key is how fast the technology will develop.

<< Back to Tidal Energy