'Canute', King of clean power

Let me introduce ‘Canute’, harnessing tides to generate power.

The concept is beautifully simple. There is a humungous great cistern with a turbine inside. As the tide flows the turbine is driven by water entering the cistern. When the tide ebbs, the turbine is driven by the outflow. This means that it generates power 24 hours a day, unlike other tidal systems that are inert for two hours at high and low tides.

It has no adverse effects on marine life, river silt, salt marshes or mudflats

It is environmentally friendly. There is no noise, no pollution, no use of carbon fuels. The cistern can be used for fish farming or breeding. Built in linear fashion, several units along the coast could form a barrier for land reclamation.

There are no fuel costs because the entire ‘grunt’ is provided by Neptune for free, it has unlimited lifespan, the technology already exists, and traditional construction materials are used throughout. It would be prefabricated onshore, and sunk in its required location.

All the basic research has been done. What is now needed is development funding.

So if this is the solution for clean power, what’s the problem?

Could it be that there are now so many vested interests in the ugly, bird-macerating, inefficient, environmentally-unfriendly wind farms marching across the British countryside that they will fight tooth-and-nail against competition that might wipe them out?

I think we should be told!