HARNESSED TIDES.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIIII, Issue 83, 9 April 1920, Page 5

HARNESSED TIDES.

NEW ELECTRIC POWm.

It is believed that the secret of a cheap method of harnessing the tides has been found.

Work is about to begin both on tho Dee and the Severn, where power can. be produced, according to the estimates of a group of engineers^ at' two-thirds the cost of electric power generated by coal. More than this; a number of estuaries on the west coast lias been surveyed, where th» cost of installation would be considerably lower. "Great Britain may remain among the greatest' manufacturing centres of the world,; even if every ounce of coal disappears." Such is the belief of one eminent foreign engineer, who has studied the possilities. Models have been set to work. within the last month, arid they confirm the ' estimate that power, which now costs £d a unit" can b& produced for Id. The essence of the invention is this: the tide works a turbine and makes the power both at its inflow and its outflow, only ceasing for-a comparatively small while during the period of mtf-tide. In. one Cheshire and Lanlfcshire district the great variant tion in the hour of the tide at neighboring estuaries makes possible, thanks to an ingenious discovery, tho production of maximum energy during an almost continuous period. A Bill is about to come before Parliament for the harnessing of si number of Scottish streams, and tho sum of available power in Scotland proves on further investigation to be> bigger than was expected.