Tidal Power Company Gets Financing
A small British company has received $5.6 million in financing to help develop its tidal power, bringing the total for Marine Current Turbines to roughly $48 million.
With this most recent injection of cash, which came from Carbon Trust Investments, Bank Invest, EDF Energy and High Tide, as well as private and government investors, Marine Current Turbines has raised roughly $48 million. The company is trying to raise further cash to help it build a five-kilowatt array based on its “SeaGen” prototype.
The SeaGen is akin to a submerged windmill that is driven by flowing water, and the Bristol-based company already has a small-scale operation established in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, where it has been generating 1.2 megawatts of electricity since April 2008.
(…)
Considering SeaGen’s development costs, its makers reckon the device generates electricity at about $5.5 million per megawatt installed — or roughly double the cost of offshore wind energy.
I’ve always liked tidal power as a source of alternative energy since A) they are out of sight and don’t interrupt a landscape and B) are not reliant on windy or sunny days. Now if they can only bring down the costs…
