[philomath_mn]

Another reference point: the coal plant in my area outputs 2.3GW. It would take almost 2,000 of these tidal kites to match that output.

I just don't understand why we spend so much time and money on renewables like this when Japan has an 8GW nuclear plant. If the US focused on building these en masse then we'd be in a great place.

[someuser2345]

Because a lot of people hate nuclear energy, and don't support building new plants. So it's not really a choice between nuclear and renewables, it's a choice between renewables and fossil fuel power plants. Besides, I think there's definitely a benefit to decentralizing the power grid, and to learning how to tap different energy sources. I imagine that there are places in the world where nuclear is not appropriate, but tidal energy is abundant.

[philomath_mn]

> a lot of people hate nuclear energy, and don't support building new plants. So it's not really a choice between nuclear and renewables

I guess that is my point: the hate is counter-productive. Neglecting nuclear was one of the biggest blunders of the 20th century.