Eco Factor: Tidal power project envisioned by DARPA to generate 200MW of renewable electricity.
Both solar and wind energy generating systems suffer from a common drawback of energy availability throughout the day. Since wind and sun can’t be controlled, companies working together for a bright future have laid their bets on other renewable energy generating systems like tidal power. Blue Energy Canada Inc. and World Energy Research are quickly moving in the direction of tidal power with an ambitious ocean power program based on Blue Energy’s Davis Tidal Turbine. DARPA too has joined the companies and is developing buoy-sized ocean power generating equipment.
Once developed, the project will be able to generate over 200MW of green electrical power without emitting any greenhouse gases in the process. However, with massive tidal projects failing due to technical faults, DARPA and other companies involved in the project don’t want to haste things with the $0.5 billion project. The companies are working on systems that can stand the harsh conditions in the open ocean for a long period of time, because just like the equipment involved, their maintenance too won’t be cheap.
Via: CleanTechnica
