To date, just 0.15MW of tidal power is installed in Australia, at Atlantis Resources’ San Remo testing facility. The country is, says domestic firm Tenax Energy, lagging far behind its international counterparts, like the UK, US and Canada. That could soon change.
[Pictured alongside is AN-400 installed at San Remo, Victoria, Australia. Image courtesy Atlantis Resources Corporation.]
“The time is right for tidal energy,” says a Tenax company statement. “Demand for energy in Australia is projected to increase by 50 per cent by 2020. If Australia is to meet the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target of 20 per cent renewable energy supply by 2020, additional technologies and renewable sources will be required. Australia can’t afford to miss this opportunity.”
Overall, the investment climate for renewables, including tidal, is set to improve significantly and tidal resources are being investigated, mostly along Australia’s northern coastline.
Indeed, since the federal government announced its Clean Energy Future programme, a 48MW tidal project originally proposed eight years ago for the north west of Western Australia (WA) is now back on the agenda by Derby Hydro Power, while a number of other projects are also the horizon.
These include three large-scale (24-300MW) tidal stream proposals by Tenax to be located at Clarence Strait, near Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT), Port Phillip Heads (Victoria), and Banks Strait (Tasmania).
Read the full article at Tidal Today.