Environmental impact

Offering a reliable power source, tidal stream energy has the potential to be a major energy supplier in the near future. This will mitigate climate change and increase security of supply for the UK economy. Tidal stream energy is predictable, invisible and has a small environmental footprint. However some concerns have been raised regarding the impact of these devices on the industries and ecosystems which they will contact.

Studies are being undertaken to see which sites are most suitable for deployment, specifically with regard to shipping routes, marine aggregates and fishing. The Swanturbines design is well below the surface of the water which inherently reduces the risk of collision.

The turbines operate in tidal flows around the coast and are spaced apart. Owing to this they only extract a small proportion of the total energy in the flow. The effects are being considered in detail, but it is thought that they will be negligible. The rotors also spin very slowly so the effect on fish and marine mammals will be negligible. Some noise and disruption will occur during the installation, but this is minimised by the Swanturbines concept which does not require drilling and has no gearbox so is much quieter.