00:00Renewable energy now produces around 40% of the total supply in the UK.
00:05And leading the way? Wind power. But according to the National Grid, hydropower is harnessed the
00:11least. And for one inventor from the Kent Inventors Forum, current schemes to get this energy are not
00:18enough. But the problem is it makes a real mess of the environment. It interferes with navigation.
00:25Although I believe they are doing this in China, and there have been one or two other
00:29installations elsewhere in Europe, nothing has happened here. Despite the fact that we have the
00:35River Severn, which is the best potential source of tidal power in the world with a rise and fall of
00:4115
00:42metres. Most often the tide can come in as high as this. That's five metres tall. And you can even
00:50see
00:50here they've had to extend the pillar with two metal prongs because the tide comes in even higher than
00:55that. Which is why Tom says that tidal power is such a great source of renewable energy. It's not
01:01weather dependent. It's not solar dependent. It comes in and out twice a day. And it's not impacted
01:06by global dynamics. So another member of the Kent Inventors Forum, Ray Laws, created a scheme called
01:12sea bags. And this is how it works. When the tide comes in, the sea bag gets filled with water,
01:18which
01:19causes the pontoon to rise. This then sucks in the water through a turbine, which lifts the water to
01:24an elevated reservoir. Then, when the tide goes out, the pontoon descends, which compresses the sea
01:31bag and drives water through a turbine, which lifts water to the reservoir, generating energy.
01:37At the moment, there isn't a prototype of the sea bags because the funding isn't there. And they've had to
01:42dig out of their personal pockets to get it this far anyway. Instead, Tom wants people to understand that
01:48this is a scheme unlike any other and that people should actually back British inventors and that
01:53renewable energy should come from Britain. We have this tremendous amount of talent in Britain.
01:59I mean, in our Inventors Forum, we have a man who has a very simple idea
02:03that will show the household if his system is leaking water into the system. Why is somebody not
02:10willing to put a few pounds into this? Tom says that at least £25,000 is needed to fund the
02:16initial
02:16scheme and is calling on the government and other funders to recognise its importance.
02:21But with energy prices forecast to rise this July, will the UK harness the power of the tide?
02:27Neila Mohamed for KMTV at Medway Bay Marina.
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