World's first tidal lagoon

[Neil]

Don't understand why we don't have loads of these already? Cheap predictable energy - http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31682529


Plans to generate electricity from the world's first series of tidal lagoons have been unveiled in the UK.

The six lagoons - four in Wales and one each in Somerset and Cumbria - will capture incoming and outgoing tides behind giant sea walls, and use the weight of the water to power turbines.

http://newsite.capefarewell.com/ssp_director/p.php?a=RmVzb2Bvaj5Ga3IvR21lam4nWmZuZGVsKmtmb3ZzYH A/QUNHRiV5dG0nMyMxLTowOiYrMDs6LjcqMDEuIysgIj40Iw==&m=1414678375&ext=.jpg

[Publius]

Don't understand why we don't have loads of these already?
In the U.S., at least, the answer is because the potential sites for these things fall into two categories:

1) Near the property of rich people who don't want their ocean views disturbed, so they tie up the project with years of litigation and/or lobbying legislators.

2) Near the habitat of some species of dwarf shrimp (barely distinguishable from half a dozen other species of dwarf shrimp) that environmentalists claim will be endangered, so they tie up the project with years of litigation and/or lobbying legislators (the environmentalists, not the shrimp).