{
  "id": 50048,
  "title": "Tidal Energy Could Cover 57% of US Electricity Demand, NREL Study Finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/02/tidal-energy-could-cover-57-of-us-electricity-demand-nrel-study-finds",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-02T17:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Tidal-Energy-Could-Cover-57-of-US-Electricity-Demand-NREL-Study-Finds.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new tidal energy project off the coast of Massachusetts is aiming to harness the United States' vast but untapped potential for clean energy. An Alaska-based tidal energy company is testing a small, modular turbine in the strong tidal currents of Cape Cod to evaluate its performance and durability in real-world conditions. If successful, this technology could potentially supply 57% of the United States' electricity demand, even if only a small portion of its technical resource potential is utilized. Despite having zero commercially operating tidal power plants, the U.S. possesses significant untapped tidal energy potential. The modular turbine being tested at the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative's Bourne Tidal Test Site is designed for simpler installation, scaling, and maintenance, making it suitable for commercial applications, especially in remote coastal communities. Lance McMullan, Sitkana founder and CEO, emphasized the importance of this testing as the nation moves toward commercial tidal energy deployments. The Cape Cod location, with water speeds reaching up to four knots, provides an ideal environment to push the system to its limits and gather crucial data about the module's design. The successful implementation of such technology could not only benefit the U.S. but also make a significant impact on the global energy landscape, as ocean energy has the potential to supply 21% of the European Union's current energy consumption and 13% of global electricity demand.",
  "summary": "An Alaska-based tidal energy company is testing a new kind of small, modular turbine in the waters off of Massachusetts to try to take advantage of the United States’ vast and untapped tidal power potential. The turbine is being piloted in the strong tidal currents of Cape Cod to test the technology’s performance and durability in real-world conditions in order to explore whether it could be…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}