Tidal Energy Could Cover 57% of US Electricity Demand, NREL Study Finds
- An Alaska-based startup is piloting a small, modular tidal turbine in Cape Cod's fast-moving currents to test its durability ahead of possible commercial deployment.
- NREL estimates US marine energy sources could generate 2,300 terawatt-hours a year, or 57 percent of the country's 2019 electricity output, yet the US has zero commercial tidal plants running today.
- Similar pilots are underway in the Great Lakes and off the California coast, as the US works to close the gap with Europe's lead in tidal and wave energy investment.
An Alaska-based tidal energy company is testing a new kind of small, modular turbine in the waters off of Massachusetts to try to take advantage of the United States’ vast and untapped tidal power potential. The turbine is being piloted in the strong tidal currents of Cape Cod to test the technology’s performance and durability in real-world conditions in order to explore whether it could be suitable for commercial scaling.
Tapping into the country’s tidal energy potential could be a major game changer for decarbonization and energy security in the United States. In 2021, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that the total energy potential of marine sources in the United States amounts to approximately 2,300 terrawatt hours per year, or 57 percent of the whole country’s electricity output in 2019. As such, “even if only a small portion of the technical resource potential is captured, marine energy technologies would make significant contributions to our nation’s energy needs,” the report found.
Despite the country’s vast tidal energy potential, the United States currently has zero commercially operating tidal power plants. The model currently being tested in the tidal canals of Cape Cod could therefore be an important first step toward tapping into this vast clean energy potential and bringing the technology one step closer to becoming a commercial reality.
Most tidal energy prototypes are large models affixed to the sea floor. The model being tested at the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative’s (MRECo) Bourne Tidal Test Site (BTTS) is much smaller and modular, which could lend itself to simpler installation, scaling, and maintenance for potential commercial applications even in remote coastal communities. This testing site is small-scale and exploratory in nature, but could create valuable data for future tidal energy research and design.
“Our goal is to make marine energy easier to build, deploy, and maintain in remote areas,” Lance McMullan, Sitkana founder and CEO, was recently quoted by Interesting Engineering. “This testing is critical as we move toward commercial deployments,” McMullan went on to explain.
The location in the strong currents of Cape Cod, where water speeds can reach up to four knots, is ideal for pushing the system to its limits, providing essential insights into the module’s design. “BTTS is one of the few places where we can evaluate our entire system in one location,” McMullan told Offshore Energy. “Beyond measuring power performance, we’ll be able to observe operation in a real marine environment and better understand interactions with wildlife.”
The potential application and impact of this kind of technology extends far beyond the borders of the United States. While the United States and Canada boast the highest surveyed levels of wave energy potential, the technology could provide a significant amount of the world’s energy needs if fully exploited. A new report from Ocean Energy Europe concluded that ocean energy has the potential to supply 21 percent of the European Union’s current energy consumption and a whopping 13 percent of global electricity demand. This could be a complete game-changer for Europe as the continent struggles to establish energy independence and wean itself off of fossil fuel imports against the backdrop of seemingly endless energy crises.
Europe is currently leading in terms of spending on tidal energy research and development, but the United States is quickly catching up thanks to ‘substantial’ funding programs from the Department of Energy. The BTTS experiment is just one of many cutting-edge tidal technologies being explored in U.S. waters. In the Great Lakes, researchers from the University of Michigan have set up mini-prototype devices that could one day provide electricity to islanders in the region. And on the West Coast, a research institute in Menlo Park, California, is testing out underwater kites that could generate tidal energy for off-grid coastal communities.
