Quantification of Exploitable Tidal Energy within the UK waters

ABPmer is pleased to announce publication of a new npower Juice funded study which has identified areas of exploitable tidal energy resources within UK waters.

The project has characterised the physical deployment criteria for principal groups of tidal stream technologies and undertaken a broad scale rationalisation of suitable areas. The viability of developing such areas has been considered against a range of economic, technical, environmental and other constraint-based issues to help quantify the level of potentially exploitable tidal resource. The research has also produced a robust methodology for calculating tidal stream device deployment densities and potential annual energy yields. This work builds on the previous Juice funded project ‘Path to Power’, and utilises data from the highly successful Atlas of UK Marine Renewable Energy Resources, which is currently being update for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) by an ABPmer led consortium.

Jamie Moore, project manager for ABPmer said:
"This project has produced a robust methodology for quantifying the exploitable tidal energy resources within UK waters. As well as helping to identify the overall exploitable tidal resources it is anticipated that many of the methods established during the research will benefit tidal developers by providing tools to help identify potential technology deployment locations, installation capacities and energy yields."

Helen Steed, npower Juice Fund Manager said:
"npower Juice Fund promotes projects to develop the offshore wet renewable sector and this research provides an important enhancement for tidal energy. We are delighted to commission projects at the forefront of this industry and hope that this research provides valuable information for developers, funders and regulators in the renewable sector."

The study report is available to download (3MB pdf file) along with the associated GIS figures (6MB zip file).

Download report

Download GIS Figures


For further information or a high resolution version of the GIS figures please contact Jamie Moore:
jmoore@abpmer.co.uk