The world is suffering from the double impact of a climate crisis and an energy security crisis. With the intensity and frequency of extreme climate events rising, Governments around the world are setting net zero goals and policies to decarbonise their economies to mitigate the risks posed by climate change.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has caused devastation in the region, intensified the energy security crisis in Europe and accelerated the need to diversify away from fossil fuels.
Day and night, the tide carries huge volumes of water across our seas and oceans. This tremendous source of clean energy has long been admired, but the ability to harness this immense power has been challenging – until now. Nova’s tidal turbines have been generating electricity from the tide since 2016. With the tidal turbines sitting underwater on the seabed, the beauty of the landscape is preserved. There are no dams, no barriers and the turbines work in harmony with marine wildlife.
Unlike wind and solar, the tide’s predictability days, months and years ahead, enables it to deliver many energy system benefits. Tidal energy can play a key role in helping us to combat climate change, achieve our net zero targets, improve our security of energy supply, and create a new industry delivering many economic benefits.
Marine energy could contribute billions to the European economy by 2050, offering strong business growth and job creation opportunities. The ability to generate electricity from our tides is now proven; the challenge faced by the sector is to lower the cost of tidal energy.
The EnFAIT project focused on accelerating the development of the tidal energy industry by building on the success of the world’s first offshore tidal array. Led by Nova Innovation, the project involved a consortium of world leading partners and quickly established itself as Europe’s flagship tidal energy project. The primary aim of the six-year project was to reduce the cost of tidal energy by at least 40%.
EnFAIT embarked on achieving this in two key ways. Firstly, by improving the technology and doubling the capacity of the array from three to six turbines. Secondly, by expanding our knowledge and understanding of this natural resource and how we can harness the mighty power of the tide to produce clean predictable energy.
Basing the project on an existing array minimised development risk and allowed the project to generate real-world results from day one. Key project objectives included:
• demonstrating a step change in the lifetime cost of energy for tidal power;
• capturing and disseminating substantial learning on fundamental issues for the ocean energy industry;
• taking a significant step towards creating a commercial, bankable tidal energy sector.
The EnFAIT project successfully delivered major step changes in the commerciality of tidal energy, performance of technology and strengthened Nova’s world leading credentials in the sector .
