A NEW ENERGY WAY FORWARD FOR THE UK - POST BREXIT

When the dust has settled, following the UK electorate’s choice to step away from the EU, our country will still be trading with Europe and also with much of the rest of the world.
One of the greatest challenges for the UK, now and into the future, will be to source and supply sufficient quantities of energy - for domestic and commercial purposes and for the motive power that presently comes in the form of petroleum and diesel. With the exception of a few nuclear power plants and a small number of Hydro and Wind units (for sustainable supplies), almost all the UK’s energy is provided by forms of fossil fuel (mainly imported) or by means of subsea cables and pipe-work - types of supply that involve very high costs. Furthermore, there is no official prioritisation of the supply options and the industry suffers from a complete absence of storage methods and facilities for electricity.

The UK’s new Prime Minister can seize this opportunity to take the country forward towards a totally self-sufficient energy system - one that the nation will own and control for perpetuity.
Most importantly, the UK has the world’s best tidal stream resources, combined with the second-largest tidal range (exceeded only in parts of Canada). In addition, our seas have some of the greatest and most consistent wave patterns in the world - perfectly capable of augmenting the vast amounts of offshore wind resources that are already beginning to be exploited.
The previous Energy Minister seemed to have little or no understanding of the potential of those three Renewable Marine Energy sources, preferring instead to promote the high-carbon pursuit of gas and oil through onshore fracking.

With a new team of ministers in place, it is to be hoped that an innovative forward-looking program can be formulated and implemented by the UK government - so that the nation might eventually have not only a totally carbon-free energy system for all purposes but one that would render the nation’s supply independent of any outside restrictions or interference.
HOW WILL THAT OBJECTIVE BE ACHIEVED?
First and foremost, a new government department needs to be established - the Department of Energy Research and Resources (DERR) - with the authority to initiate university-based research into the design and construction of offshore Energy Stations.

The purpose of such research will be to develop a system that will channel the power output from the three Renewable Marine Energy resources to a single Marine Energy Station (MES) at which the combined energy will be converted to electricity that can then be sent ashore. Research will also be required to discover the most efficient method of using the electricity at the MES to produce compressed, chilled liquid Hydrogen that can easily be shipped ashore to coastal power stations and to depots supplying transport systems.
 The National grids for both Gas and Electricity will need to be taken back into state ownership and upgraded to take the new off-shore power. 

The new DERR will incorporate a ‘panel of experts’ from the North Sea Oil and Gas industries, the various offshore support industries and the commercial fishing industry, all of whom will have a thorough understanding of the challenges involved in working in the marine environment.
As tidal stream flows are constant and predictable, Marine Energy Stations can be installed in suitable locations spaced evenly around the coast - within the approximately 300,000 square kilometres of the UK’s territorial waters. For maximum power output, each MES will be located in an area having the most advantageous tidal flows and will be surrounded with numerous wave power devices and wind turbines. In addition to processing the energy produced, the central rig will provide accommodation for operational and maintenance staff.
The cost of building a total energy supply system for the UK will be less than the estimated cost of the planned HS2 rail system (which is already an outdated idea) and the implementation of such a project will put the UK at the forefront of the fossil-fuel-free renewable energy world.

This is a personal view from

Paul Hales
Director

Hales Water Turbines Ltd