Public talk by Guy Houlsby, Professor of Civil Engineering, Oxford University. Wind, wave and tide are all potential sources of renewable energy, and the industries to exploit them are at different stages of maturity. Offshore wind is already well developed, with the UK for instance, having installed offshore wind turbines with a capacity of more than 3GW. The industry faces challenges however, to push down costs whilst moving to larger installations in deeper water.
Tidal power is at an earlier stage of development, and the tides are a much more difficult resource to understand and exploit than wind. Whilst existing technologies to extract tidal power may work, significant progress is needed towards developing more effective means of exploiting the tides.
Waves could potentially be a major source of power, but their exploitation is at an even earlier stage. In spite of a host of different devices being suggested, none has yet proven to be commercially viable.

This talk will address the developments in all three of the marine renewable technologies, examining both their present state of development and future opportunities.

More information here: www.wamsi.org.au/events/marine-renewable-energy-technology-opportunities-and-challenges