Researchers from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) have developed procedures and designs to obtain energy from marine currents in areas of great depths optimizing the costs.
After a wide development of offshore wind power, experts agree that the next step is the use of the energy from marine currents, mainly produced by the tides.
It is estimated that about 80% of the energy from tides are located in areas of over 40 meters of depth. Therefore it is necessary to use a new design device that can operate in areas where it is expensive to install first generation devices such as experimental parks set on the seabed. These systems of the second generation have anchors and a series of cables that hold the device to the seabed.
Researchers from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) have developed procedures and designs to obtain energy from marine currents in areas of great depths optimizing the costs. GESMEY device, patented by the University, has been the first design worldwide tested in the sea and fit to operate fully submerged.
final goal: to reduce as much as possible the production cost of the energy and to make this renewable source both financially and technically competitive, helping fight against climate change.

The research group keeps working to achieve a future successful commercialization of tidal renewable energy devices since they have a great potential to generate power from the marine currents. José Andrés Somolinos, another researcher from GITERM says, “the energy from currents is a renewable source that has an additional value in a future energy market regarding other renewable energy sources due to its high predictability. Besides, tidal energy technologies are characterized by a CO2-free energy that contributes to the economic growth and job creation in coastal and remote areas.”