Tidal energy generator gets go ahead  

An Australian tidal energy company called Atlantis Energy is implementing their system (the Aquanator) off the east coast.

A self-taught inventor has signed a contract with Country Energy, one of the country's biggest power grids, to test a new source of clean and renewable electricity that will harness ocean currents and has the potential to drastically reduce electricity costs on islands.

Mick Perry, 42, a former auto-electrician and tuna fisherman, is the driving force behind the $3 million underwater generator, the Aquanator, which will be moored in the mouth of the Clarence River at Maclean in northern NSW.

Currents of about 2.5 knots will rotate aquafoils on the generator, which is 57 metres across and nine metres high, producing one megawatt of electricity - enough to power 660 households daily.

I wonder how well this scales up - could thousands of these things be moored along the coastline, or is the current too far offshore in most places ?