Time to invest in tidal power technology

Read Martin's column every week in the Western Morning News

- Martin Hesp on Saturday

INVEST in the future. That's what the government says it's doing, and who are we to question such a principle?

Not sure about the nuclear option, though, either in the case of power stations or attack submarines.

The white elephant presently under construction in Somerset is taking an age and is massively over-budget so the idea that you buy exactly the same model and do it all over again doesn’t really make sense. The logic seems to be, “We now know all the many pitfalls,” which seems weak to say the least.

Especially when Hinkley Point is just feet from the second highest tide-fall in the world.

Again and again you'll hear politicians and journalists repeating the mantra that renewable energy sources are fickle. And yes, the wind does not blow all the time, especially during cold clear periods when the nation needs its heating, and UK sunshine levels are hit-and-miss at best. But why constantly bang on about wind and solar when you have enormously powerful and unending tidal-power on your doorstep?

I've repeated this endlessly and will do so again... When experts say: “We haven't really invested in researching the technology behind tidal power,” I am stupefied.

That's what nuclear experts and politicians used to say back when I was reporting on the inquiry looking into Hinkley Point C, and I used to retort... “So we've spent decades and zillions of dollars learning to split the atom and harness that energy, but we can’t build a watermill?”