I'm currently working on a design of a hydroelectric system that can be free of environmental and economic concerns and reliable to operate in Ocean and Sea.
It is a huge project In planning. If you are an expert or have experience in this area, I would greatly appreciate your support to make this project happen.
If you really want a powerful sea based hydroelectric plant, go to the Australian town of Broome and take a ride up the coast, which is (1) dotted with islands, (2) has only a slightly inclined sea bed and (3) has very high tides, You get the phenomenon of the 'horizontal waterfall' as the water rushes between the islands at speeds of tens of kph at times and is absolutely reliable all year round; it would give gigawatts, and maybe terawatts of power if fully tapped. Problem is, its absolutely nowhere near any place that requires such colossal levels of power. There was talk in the early 2000s of using it to electrolyse hydrogen and selling it to the US or China or somewhere - but the investment would have been enormous and the market in those days for hydrogen was tiny. It still isn't great)
Wave and tidal energy sources belong to the hydropower family of sources. They can be used in and on any suitable waters. The classical hydropower, on the other hand, needs water falls and huge topological retrofitting. Such projects needs suitable controllable lands and waters that are usually available at rivers. Of course, as you said, a project dicision is not only a technical issue, but also an economic constraint to a large extent.
Very simple resource:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolienne
Rather comprehensive (more than in other languages), but in French
If you really want a powerful sea based hydroelectric plant, go to the Australian town of Broome and take a ride up the coast, which is (1) dotted with islands, (2) has only a slightly inclined sea bed and (3) has very high tides, You get the phenomenon of the 'horizontal waterfall' as the water rushes between the islands at speeds of tens of kph at times and is absolutely reliable all year round; it would give gigawatts, and maybe terawatts of power if fully tapped. Problem is, its absolutely nowhere near any place that requires such colossal levels of power. There was talk in the early 2000s of using it to electrolyse hydrogen and selling it to the US or China or somewhere - but the investment would have been enormous and the market in those days for hydrogen was tiny. It still isn't great)
To create a hydroelectric station water level difference is necessary. This is realized on rivers, and the existing difference is enhanced by the creation of a dam. In the sea it is impossible. The only realistic option is a tidal power station. These projects are being implemented, see for example Rance Tidal Power Station in France (240 MW). In Russia such type of power station was realised in 1968 (!) - it is "Kislaya Guba Tidal Power Station" (now 1.7 MW). There are exist project of Penzhin Tidal Power Plant (87 GW !!!). This is possible due to very high tides in this place (Penzhina Bay, north of Sea of Okhotsk) - about 13 m. But this project not realized till now due to absence of enough customers in this region.
The ocean energy alternatives closest to viability are the tidal tream and waves. When combined with off-shore wind energy, they have interesting LCOE values.
Other forms such as thermal gradient are still in an immature phase.
The sea must be strategic for our society, both in terms of energy and food as well,
In order to produce hydroelectric power, a difference in height is required. Hydropower enables electricity to be generated in hydroelectric power stations using the force of the water. This force depends either on the height of the waterfall (high or medium head power plants) or on the flow of rivers (run-of-river power plants). Unfortunately, marine flows do not allow this. However, tides and waves can be used to produce electrical energy but in a different way than hydroelectric power plants. Some stations producing electricity from sea swell and tidal energy are those located in Norway and England.
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