Taiwan unveils first tidal current electric generator

Taiwan’s first submerged tidal current generator, touted as an important step to harness tidal energy, was unveiled at a local college Monday. A research team from the National Taiwan Ocean University said its generator completed frequency and efficiency tests inside the world’s third largest cavitation tunnel at the school. Professor Ke Yung-tse noted that ocean tides are a promising energy resource because they are more stable than wind power, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported. The CNA report said the school now plans to conduct frequency tests in 2012 between Heping Island in northern Taiwan and the outlying Keelung Islet, where the tidal flow is high and the tidal stream is steady. The generator was completed in two years. But university president Lee Kuo-Tien said that while the tidal current generator represents an important step forward, there may still be a long way to go before it could use tidal energy for commercial purposes. The research was funded by the National Science Council as part of Taiwan’s National Science Technology Program for energy. — TJD, GMA News