UK: Wave, Tidal Power Costs to Drop 80 Pct by 2050

Carbon Trust’s head of technology acceleration, Stephen Wyatt, predicts a big decrease in costs of wave and tidal power in Britain, which can be achieved with further R&D that will make installation and O&M methods more efficient.

Reuters has brought Mr. Wyatt’s forecast from a briefing held in London, according to which the price of energy from these two resources could drop to the current price of offshore wind power by 2020-2025. That would be a 50% price decrease, with a further cost reduction up to 80% by 2050.

Wave and tidal energy is currently much more expensive than that generated by other renewable sources, since it is an emerging sector that has a variety of technologies and its commercial feasibility is yet unproven at large-scale.

On the other hand, wind and nuclear energy costs could also decrease considerably and it is not easy to predict what will be the wholesale electricity price.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, July 30, 2012