Marine renewable energy is the energy produced from the kinetic energy of water. This could includes waves, offshore wind farms, tides, and currents. It also utilises water temperature and salinity. Companies such as Leask Marine produce and install many of these technologies.
Many people often see offshore wind farms and wind turbines as the best form of renewable energy. In many ways they are! They can harvest large amounts of wind due to minimal disturbance from buildings. They’re built to optimise wind capture when out at sea without providing much of an eyesore. But, many wave-based and tidal-based technologies are effective too.
Wave-based technologies harness energy from a wave by using point absorbers, oscillating water columns or accumulators.
On the other hand, tide-based technologies use the neap and ebb tide to produce energy. The technology that allows this to happen includes tidal barrages and currents.
To conclude, marine renewables are a new field of discovery which was developed in response to climate change. Despite being new, the developments have been vast and the industry will shortly be moving into its second generation. This offers many exciting opportunities for those interested in a career in marine renewables. Plenty of technologies are still to be developed and discovered- and you could be the one to make them!
This piece is a summary of the Outbox 2020 session run by Leask Marine. You can find out more about Leask Marine here >>
