I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on a PBS NewsHour broadcast. I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit starts at 12:36:

As the tide ebs and flows, the turbines spin between seven and fifteen times a minute, generating power similar to a wind turbine. Cables cary the energy back to shore; first underwater, then underground, where it’s then fed into the national grid.

 

The tides are so predictable that Atlantis says it can tell how much energy these turbines will generate every fifteen minutes for the next twenty-five years.

What kind of information goes into such a long-term prediction? Is it just the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, or something more? I ask because those positions can be calculated for thousands of years, there wouldn't be a cut off at only 25 years, so I assume there's more that goes into it.

I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on a PBS NewsHour broadcast. I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit starts at 12:36:

As the tide ebs and flows, the turbines spin between seven and fifteen times a minute, generating power similar to a wind turbine. Cables cary the energy back to shore; first underwater, then underground, where it’s then fed into the national grid.

The tides are so predictable that Atlantis says it can tell how much energy these turbines will generate every fifteen minutes for the next twenty-five years.

What kind of information goes into such a long-term prediction? Is it just the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, or something more? I ask because those positions can be calculated for thousands of years, there wouldn't be a cut off at only 25 years, so I assume there's more that goes into it.

I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on the PBS NewsHour broadcast . I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit starts at 12:36:

As the tide ebs and flows, the turbines spin between seven and fifteen times a minute, generating power similar to a wind turbine. Cables cary the energy back to shore; first underwater, then underground, where it’s then fed into the national grid.

The tides are so predictable that Atlantis says it can tell how much energy these turbines will generate every fifteen minutes for the next twenty-five years.

What kind of information goes into such a long-term prediction? Is it just the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, or something more? I ask because those positions can be calculated for thousands of years, there wouldn't be a cut off at only 25 years, so I assume there's more that goes into it.

I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on a PBS NewsHour broadcast. I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit starts at 12:36:

As the tide ebs and flows, the turbines spin between seven and fifteen times a minute, generating power similar to a wind turbine. Cables cary the energy back to shore; first underwater, then underground, where it’s then fed into the national grid.

The tides are so predictable that Atlantis says it can tell how much energy these turbines will generate every fifteen minutes for the next twenty-five years.

What kind of information goes into such a long-term prediction? Is it just the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, or something more? I ask because those positions can be calculated for thousands of years, there wouldn't be a cut off at only 25 years, so I assume there's more that goes into it.