page_title: Tidal power
section_title: Methods
hierarchical_section_title: Tidal power / Methods
caption_attribution_description: SeaGen - world's first commercial tidal generator in Strangford Lough Northern Ireland
context_page_description: Tidal power or tidal energy converts energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity.
  Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than the wind and the sun. Among sources of renewable energy, tidal energy has traditionally suffered from relatively high cost and limited availability of sites with sufficiently high tidal ranges or flow velocities, thus constricting its total availability. However, many recent technological developments and improvements, both in design and turbine technology, indicate that the total availability of tidal power may be much higher than previously assumed and that economic and environmental costs may be brought down to competitive levels.
  Historically, tide mills have been used both in Europe and on the Atlantic coast of North America. The incoming water was contained in large storage ponds, and as the tide went out, it turned waterwheels that used the mechanical power it produced to mill grain. The earliest occurrences date from the Middle Ages, or even from Roman times.
context_section_description: Tidal power can be classified into four generating methods:
caption: The world's first commercial-scale and grid-connected tidal stream generator – SeaGen – in Strangford Lough.[10] The strong wake shows the power in the tidal current.
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