Well, my preferred solution is gigantic offshore tidal power generators in the Minch and around the top of Scotland where there are strong currents, preferably

Well, my preferred solution is gigantic offshore tidal power generators in the Minch and around the top of Scotland where there are strong currents, preferably combined with hundred-kilometre-wide offshore wind farms (if you're building power generation structures in the open ocean anyway, you're an idiot if you don't put massive wind turbines on top of them). Tide is one of the few renewable technologies that generates reliable power, and so is suitable for baseline load. Even in Scotland, the wind drops. But it's had very little investment, partly because of a poor reputation from horrific ecological damage caused by tidal barrages in the past, but mostly because wind is sexier. But plants big enough to actually make a difference are going to be very, very big. Microgeneration is great for small rural communities, but we live in cities these days. Here's a new 320MW tidal lagoon being built in Wales: http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/ http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/ These only work when attached to a coastline, though.