Technology Corridor

Tidal energy technology improves, but is it enough?

Could ocean energy be the next big thing in renewables?

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors in early May approved a pilot project, estimated at $2 million, to test technology that produces electricity from the tides in the San Francisco Bay.

The city hopes to produce 1 MW with the project and add it to the San Francisco grid by Jan. 1, 2006.

The idea of using the ocean to produce power is hardly new-it goes back as far as 1200 A.D., when farmers in Great Britain and France trapped sea water in ponds to power mills as the tide dropped. But in the modern age of pulling electricity from the grid, ocean energy has not been economic.

Improvement in technology and rising natural gas costs may change the economics of ocean power during the next decade, though, making ocean energy a viable-not to mention pollution-free-option for some coastal communities.

Joseph Neil, CEO of HydroVenturi, certainly hopes so. His company has been one of the driving forces behind the San Francisco project, and it is a leading contender to land the pilot there.