The tides are very reliable, but tidal power is… not so successful. Unless you are willing to dam off an entire tidal inlet and deal with all the environmental consequences that has, all other tidal power technologies have proven to be very difficult to keep operational against the sheer power of the UK’s tidal flows and coastal weather. There have been trials running off of Orkney for around a decade, and the tech has always had problems with scaling up. It’s such a shame, because the predictability of the tides and their staggered progression around the coastline make tidal power really appealing if it can be done correctly, but we’re just not there yet.
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