Tidal power – imagine turbines in the sea, or a tidal zone with strong currents, hooked to a generator and creating electricity on the most reliable renewable energy source in the world?
Tidal power is just that. Like clockwork each day the tides come in and go out on roughly 12-hour cycles >> high-low-high. All day every day, the tides are at work. The only time that tidal power stations do not work is when the tide changes, which is a brief period of time once every six hours. Numerous other countries around the world have investigated whether it would be applicable on their coastlines. France, the Netherlands,
New Zealand is no exception to having strong tides. At French Pass in Marlborough one can visibly see the flow of the water through the channel as it plunges over a submerged cliff with a force that has attracted the attention of divers, marine scientists, locals and the plain curious alike.
But has New Zealand ever investigated the application of tidal power? The answer is, yes it has. In 2011, the Environment Court recommended to the then Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson that she permit the commencement of a proposed tidal power station at the heads of Kaipara Harbour in Northland. Due to environmental concerns the Environment Court said that the project should be staged, to enable the study of any impacts on marine life. It all seemed like a certainty – Ngapuhi, the local Iwi had conceded the legal challenge, the necessary consents had been granted, and it had Ministerial approval.
So what happened?
Market economics did not like it. Investors got cold feet. No one had an idea where the $600 million needed to build it was going to come from and Crest Energy admitted it was a largely experimental idea.
But that was then. In 2026 with global energy facing an unprecedented crisis, an indefinite closure of the Hormuz Strait in the Iran conflict looking ever more likely and climate change bringing into question our appetite for fossil fuels, surely it must be time to revisit the Kaipara Harbour heads project. Surely it must be time to look at what tidal power could bring to the New Zealand market. Surely it must be time to start thinking about the long term energy needs of New Zealanders, something no one can honestly say that they are doing if tidal energy does not have a significant role in the conversation.
What would it take to resuscitate tidal power as a potential player in the New Zealand energy market? Academic papers have explored the use of tidal power in conjunction with other renewable energy players such as wind. Energy planners – I assume there is such a breed of resource planners in the New Zealand planning sector – will no doubt have wondered themselves given the success of such projects in the United Kingdom, South Korea, United States, Russia and elsewhere.
There is a case for reviving N.Z. research into the practicality of tidal power around the country. Whilst I do not believe that all 8,800 megawatts of believed tidal power generating capacity can/should be mobilised, I absolutely do not believe none should be mobilised either. Especially not in the current geopolitical climate, where fossil fuels are having their credibility brought into question.