What is marine current power?

Marine current power is a form of marine energy that can be obtained from very different origins such as wind, tides, difference in density, salinity gradients (osmotic power) or temperature (OTEC). Independently of the origin of the currents, they all use a common technology which is very similar to the wind power technology. They are also known as Ocean Energy Current.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elu5Rm_Tjx4]

This visualization shows sea surface current flows. The flows are colored by corresponding sea surface temperature data. This visualization is rendered for display on very high-resolution devices like hyperwalls or for print media. This visualisation was produced on 21st March, 2012. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Ocean waters are constantly on the move. Ocean currents flow in complex patterns affected by wind, water salinity, temperature, topography of the ocean floor, and the earth’s rotation and if this complex patterns are studied they can be more predictable than wind and solar power.

Marine current power carry a great deal of energy because of the density of water.The density of water is 800 times that of air, which makes electric generation possible already at water current velocities of 1 – 5 m/s. This is the reason why marine current power has an important potential for future electricity generation, although it is not widely used at present.

Marine current energy is at an early stage of development, there are a number of different current technology concepts under development. Although ocean current technology is still in its early stages of development, several tidal current turbine applications are near commercialization. These devices harness the tidal cycles in some near-shore spots around the world, or from freshwater rivers.

Regarding only the tidal stream energy capacity in the world, it is estimated to exceed 120GW globally. The UK has one of the largest marine energy resources in the world, estimated to be more than 10GW, representing about 50% of Europe’s tidal energy capacity. Also France in Europe has a big capacity. In the rest of the world, the countries were this form of energy could be widely harnessed are Canada, USA, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, China, Korea and Japan.

There are very few companies in the world dedicated to this segment of the renewable market, the more specialised and dedicated to the marine current energy is the british company Marine Current Turbines.