India to tap the tides

Atlantis Resources, a British firm, has inked a deal with the western state of Gujarat, under which the privately owned company will establish the feasibility of developing tidal power projects capable of generating more than 100 megawatts of power — enough to supply about 40,000 households.

The Gulf of Kutch and the Gulf of Khambhat in the Arabian Sea will be two sites - renowned for extreme daily tides – to be studied.

Tidal power is the only form of energy which derives directly from the relative motions of the Earth–Moon system, and to a lesser extent from the Earth–Sun system. The tidal forces produced by the Moon and Sun, in combination with Earth's rotation, are responsible for the generation of the tides.

The potential for power generation by an individual tidal turbine can be greater than that of similarly rated wind energy turbine. With the higher density of water, being 800 times the density of air, means that a single generator can provide significant power at low tidal flow velocities. Tidal power plants have been in operation since 1960s.

India has more than 4,500 miles of coastline and yet lacks a single tidal power project. The move to explore the untapped resource comes ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, an event where India will strive to demonstrate that it is doing its utmost to limit emissions while refusing to cap economic growth.

India, which imports 70 per cent of its oil and relies on modest coal reserves to generate most of its electricity, is on course to become the third-largest user of energy by 2030, behind the US and China.

Atlantis’s backers include Morgan Stanley and Statkraft, the Norweigan state utility.

The company is also hoping to establish a £400 million project to build one of the world’s biggest tidal power plants in the Pentland Firth, off the Scottish coast.

Of course one needs sturdy systems and also transport the energy from the sea to the site. But given that tides are generally well predicted, and regularly, a pretty reliable source of renewable energy. (Hey, but did you know the tides have been gradually slowing the earth's rotation speed?!Just like earthquakes have a way of making your days longer or shorter according to the way the mass is redistributed!)