Why Marine Renewables Potential Hasn’t Yet Been Tapped

With marine renewables resources offering so much promise, why hasn’t their power yet been tapped? Peter Asmus of Pike Research offers three reasons, over at Clean Tech Brief:

The first is the nature of the ocean itself, a powerful resource that cannot be privately owned like land that typically serves as the foundation for site control for terrestrial power plants of all kinds;The second is funding. Hydropower was heavily subsidized during the Great Depression, but little public investment has since been steered toward marine renewables with the exception of ocean thermal technologies, which were perceived to be a failure.

The third reason why the ocean has not yet been industrialized on behalf of energy production is that the technologies, materials and construction techniques did not exist until now to harness this renewable energy resource in any meaningful and cost effective way.

Tapping into the potential of oceans and tides will yield rewards. Asmus notes that:

The United Nations (UN) projects that the total “technically exploitable” potential for waterpower (including marine renewables) is 15 trillion kilowatt-hours, equal to half of the projected global electricity use in the year 2030.  Of this vast resource potential, roughly 15 percent has been developed so far. T he UN and World Energy Council projects 250 GW of hydropower will be developed by 2030.  If marine renewables capture just 10 percent of this forecasted hydropower capacity, that figure represents 25 GW, a figure Pike Research believes is a valid possibility and the likely floor on market scope.

Perhaps those figures will serve as added incentive to move forward with a marine renewables industry in the United States.