Just off Florida's coast, the world's most powerful sustained ocean current, the Gulf Stream, rushes by at nearly 32 billion litres per second and it never stops.

To scientists, it represents a tantalizing possibility: a new, plentiful and uninterrupted source of clean energy.

Florida Atlantic University researchers say the current could someday be used to drive thousands of underwater turbines, produce as much energy as perhaps 10 nuclear plants and supply one-third of Florida's electricity.

A small test turbine is expected to be installed within months.

"We can produce power 24/7," said Frederick Driscoll, director of the university's Centre of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology.

Using a $5-million research grant from the state, the university is working to develop the technology in hopes that big energy and engineering companies will eventually build huge underwater turbine arrays.

From Oregon to Maine, Europe to Australia, Canada and beyond, researchers are looking to ocean currents, tides and waves for infinite energy. So far, there are no commercial-scale projects in the U.S. delivering electricity to the grid.

In Canada, Nova Scotia Power owns and operates one of three tidal power plants in the world and the only one in the Western Hemisphere.

The plant harnesses the tidal action of the Bay of Fundy, which boasts the world's highest tides.

The plant uses a head pond to capture the flow of the water and operate the plant, which can product up to 20 megawatts daily.

New technologies are being created to capture the power of the tides, including the use of offshore floating tidal turbines, as well as turbines that are anchored to the ocean floor.

That's what's envisioned for the Florida coast.

Researchers hope to make it as cost-effective as fossil fuels. While the initial investment is higher, the currents that drive the machinery are free.

There are still many unknowns and risks. One fear is the "Cuisinart effect": The spinning underwater blades could chop up marine life.

 Source: Brantford Expositor

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