The University of Plymouth To Host European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC)

I’m happy, yet surprised to see this.  Interest in hydrokinetics has fizzled over the last 5 – 6 years, largely as a result of the plummeting price of solar and wind.  That said, in September 2021, interested parties will join in Plymouth, England to share ideas.

Ocean wave and tidal energy faces numerous intrinsic problems.  The generation is generally far from the load. Maintenance issues are huge; when an object is immersed in rapidly flowing salt water, the number of things that can go wrong is hard to calculate.  Though one thinks of tides or other ocean currents as being constant, in reality they’re not at all.

There hasn’t been an event like this in the U.S. since, I’m guessing, 2015, and I actually never expected to see another one on this subject.  Wrongo.