Tony Lodge - Tony Lodge is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies

MINISTERS are slowly waking up to the fact that the UK is increasingly adrift of its binding EU targets on renewable energy. This sorry state of affairs has been apparent to energy planners for some time. Yet very little has been done to get a stronger mix of renewables in place, instead of just supporting one over and above all the others.

The "one" renewable which has received the lion's share of the renewables pie is wind energy. It has received huge political and financial support. Yet a huge 11GW of wind development is stuck in the planning system as a result of red tape and local planning objections. This is the equivalent of four large coal-fired power stations.

In light of this, more and more commentators believe that Government support needs to be redirected to those renewables with greater capacity to deliver more predictable and reliable long-term carbon-free electricity and ones which do not antagonise local feeling and exacerbate bitter planning opposition. Only one renewable source ticks all of these boxes; tidal stream.

This week, the possibility of a 10-mile barrage across the Severn to generate significant amounts of "green" electricity came a step closer after it was included on a shortlist of tidal schemes published by the Government.

The ocean's tides present an inexhaustible and self-renewing supply of power. It has been estimated that the tides around Britain's 11,000-mile coastline, which feature some of the world's strongest tidal ranges, could be capable of producing more than 20 per cent of the UK's current electricity demand. The UK is blessed in having around its shores over half of the EU's tidal resources.

Whereas wave energy is harnessed near the water's surface and can be unreliable, like wind, the stronger and predictable tidal currents deep beneath the surface are where tidal stream turbines can deliver the real difference.

These turbines, secured up to 60 metres below the surface, on the sea bed, harness the fiercest ebb and flow of the tides and come closest to a renewable baseload supplier. Importantly, the systems offer no hazard to shipping at this depth.

Tidal stream power is perpetual and, unlike wind, highly predictable for centuries into the future. No other source of renewable energy offers such scale, reliability and contribution to security and diversity of supply. Importantly, the environmental impact is non-existent as tidal stream technology is effectively invisible, thus eliminating costly and time-consuming planning inquiries which are holding back so many unpopular wind applications.

But why is Britain not better harnessing this unique tidal opportunity? Developers, investors and electricity supply companies are all acutely aware of the binding renewable targets, but are anxiously awaiting a more determined lead from the Government.

Hull-based tidal stream company, Lunar Energy, is Britain's leading pioneer in this exciting area and has ground-breaking plans to install a huge 300 tidal stream turbine field. Costing £500m this will be the world's largest tidal stream energy plant at 300MW and will provide enough energy to power 200,000 homes by 2015. But, sadly for the UK, this plant is being built by Lunar in South Korea, in conjunction with Korean Midland Power. Where the Koreans have recognised early on that Lunar's technology is worth supporting and developing, Britain still appears hesitant.

It is a sad truth that development overseas is currently a simpler process than within the UK. Although the UK is blessed with one of the highest levels of tidal stream energy in the world, there does not yet seem to be the Government will to remove the considerable planning and crucial grid connection obstacles that are beginning to slow home-based growth of this new regional energy industry. It will be interesting how the Severn scheme develops.

There is reasonable cause for concern, and yet again, a technology first created in the UK could actually see its main exploitation abroad if we don't move now.

A major planning issue concerns the Crown Estate which owns almost all the seabed around the UK to a 12-mile radius. The Government will urgently need to guarantee a more positive approach from the Estate, given that then-support will determine the ultimate success of tidal stream development in Britain.

Of even more importance is the current inability of a company such as Lunar Energy to connect into the National Grid. A new offshore grid network is vital and should go hand in glove with a general modernisation of the national network.

As an island nation with some of the world's fiercest tides, Britain stands on the edge of an energy revolution. It must move to better harness this free resource - or become even more dependent on foreign gas for electricity, with all of the security of supply and price implications that this would represent.