Marine renewable energies : main stakes and prospects of development

With 70% of the Earth's surface covered by ocean, the potential of marine resources is promising. For example, the energy naturally dissipated by tides alone is estimated at around 25,000 TWh/year, which is more than the world's electricity consumption (17,800 TWh in 2011 according to the International Energy Agency). Of course, this theoretical potential is not fully exploitable due to various environmental, economic, technical factors or due to conflicts of use (navigation, fishing, tourism, etc.). Although the level of maturity of marine energies is very heterogeneous, none of them have yet reached the stage of commercial development. Some devices are still at the R&D stage, while others have reached the stage of full-scale offshore demonstration. Although marine energy currently represents only a tiny share of global power generation, this share is expected to grow in the coming years. Moreover, while marine renewable energies can provide electricity, some of them also enable the production of fresh water, refrigeration or biofuels.

Marine renewable energies can supply carbon free energy from various ocean resources (tides, waves, currents, winds, salinity and temperature gradients). This sector, currently at an early stage of deployment, has good prospects of development in the coming years.

Enea released a report on marine renewable energies giving a transversal vision of the associated stakes and prospects of development. Technical and economic characteristics, maturity level and specificities of each marine energy are analysed. French and European sources of funding, regulatory framework and potential environmental and social impacts are also reported.