How tide has turned on UK tidal stream energy as costs ebb and reliability flows

Investors are seeing rising potential in tidal power as turbines become more powerful and easier to deploy

For decades the immense practical difficulties of harnessing the powerful tides flowing around Britain's shorelines have put off investors and government officials searching for big renewable energy sources.

But as the costs of deploying turbines in tidal streams fall, more and more people are seeing the potential in an energy source that creates energy as the tides ebb and flow at predictable hours every day - energy that is renewable but not intermittent.