In the run-up to COP26, Stuart Murphy, Founder, of tidal energy company TPGen24 discusses the UK's lack of energy security, the lack of diversity in our renewables mix - and the crucial role tidal energy can play in delivering a zero-carbon future.

Stuart Murphy: With COP 26 taking place in early November, world leaders will shortly be gathering in Glasgow to develop refreshed policy, plotting a course to deliver Net Zero by 2050, with minimal short-term impact on the environment. A challenging proposition.

However, the event is to take place against a chaotic backdrop. The energy and fuel crises have been well publicised at home, and no doubt abroad. We’ve been caught with our trousers down on the eve of what has been trailed to be a seminal event in our journey towards reducing climate change.

The situation has demonstrated both the UK’s lack of energy security and, further, the lack of diversity in our renewables mix.

Crippling the economy and causing misery for millions of bill payers nationwide by the day, the situation is critical, and the government needs to act fast to meet a surging demand for electricity with a sufficient, clean domestic supply. Falling back on fossil fuels and imported energy is no long-term solution.

What’s abundantly clear is that the current strategy is not the right one in order to achieve the essential objective. As such, I’d like to take this opportunity to suggest one of my own, which I think will achieve a beneficial result.

When current renewables aren’t enough

There’s no doubt we all want to live as comfortably as possible, and now, as awareness around climate change increases, as sustainably as possible.

But before we start thinking about our sparkly new AI-backed homes, transport and services of the future, I believe we need to focus on the utilities which will deliver them.

Although most of us are aware that green energy systems are the only realistic way in which we can deliver this scenario, our current renewable capabilities, predominantly produced by wind and solar, are not nearly enough to deliver on our green ambitions.

Principally, both wind and solar, as meteorologically dependent solutions are inherently intermittent in their generation; if the sun doesn’t shine and when the wind doesn’tblow, they cannot produce energy. As seen recently, during long-spells of inappropriate weather, this causes major problems and exposes us to fossil fuels to plug the gap or expensive imported energy.

Yes, highly-publicised major projects such as the nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point are underway, but energy generation is not scheduled to start there until 2026, and it’s likely this will be pushed back even further. Further, one plant will hardly provide the whole solution.

Let me make it clear at this point that I’m not disparaging any of these solutions, we need as broad a mix of clean resources as possible. However, I do feel that current planned developments will not be nearly enough to meet the exponential spike in consumer and business demand over the next decade.

Alternatively, if we broaden our strategic horizons and consider a richer energy mix, using a wider range of resources, it will be entirely possible to have our cake and eat it too.

Our most reliable natural resource

It’s often been said we look to the sky for our power solutions, but what about those at our feet? Our oceans and seas remain one of the greatest, untapped renewable resources.

I think this is a great shame and don’t understand why this remains the case when the UK (and the rest of the world for that matter) has so many suitable sites with powerful tidal ranges. Why have we not put more serious investment into this resource?

In part, this could be down to the cul-de-sac reached by the Swansea Bay Lagoon pilot project. The scheme promised a great deal, yet faced many challenges, from the environmental impact of the structure to, and most crucial in the decision to shelve it, the final cost of the energy produced.

Further it was another intermittent energy source which only achieved peak power output at fixed times, according to the tidal cycle. For 75% of the time it would have produced an oversupply during low usage period, with no storage strategy in place for excess.

However, the story’s not over yet.In fact, it’s only just begun, and it’s one I have wanted to play an active role in progressing for a long time.

Over the last five years, I’ve been working with scientific, engineering and environmental experts, with two simple goals in mind:

• Realising a robust, cost effective, efficient and low-environmental impact tidal energy system.
• Developing an energy solution which can produce, store and release electricity 24/7, seamlessly matching supply in line with increasing demand.

Progress has been steady, but breakthroughs over the last 12 months are now bringing TPGen24, the name of our project, one step closer to reality. Unlike Swansea, this plant would be at least 1km offshore, producing baseline electricity perpetually and smart controlled, so not subject to the fixed tidal cycle.

As our research becomes more refined, its potential is becoming hard to ignore and we sincerely hope it will make a strong case for the investment in, and development of, tidal energy infrastructure going forward.

Generating extra value for society

As a secondary goal, and to further make the case for tidal systems, we also want to show how such projects can have significant, positive short and long-term impacts on the socio-economic fabric of a nation, beyond the primary function of power generation.

For example, the construction, operation and maintenance of these systems will inevitably encourage investment into our coastal communities. This means more jobs, more redevelopment and the financial shot in the arm that many of these post-industrial locations need. It’s a no brainer really and could solve two pressing problems in one go.

From a global perspective it will also place UK plc at the forefront of a ground-breaking technology which could become a valuable future global export as other countries look to replicate these systems for themselves.

 Riding the crest

In a country surrounded by water, tidal energy should be seen as essential to meeting our increasing reliance on electricity, especially if we want to maintain the standard of living we’ve become accustomed to.

Tidal has the ability to deliver a win-win situation. Not only will it help to deliver a zero-carbon future, it will also serve as a ground-breaking success story in renewable energy infrastructure which will only benefit the UK economy.

Click here for more information about TPGen24