The principal issues being addressed by Clean Current technology are the reduction of climate change gases and the conservation of hydrocarbon resources by displacing their consumption with renewable resources. Demand for electricity is growing, particularly in lesser-developed countries where population growth is highest. According to the OECD’s World Energy Outlook 2000, electricity consumption will almost double by 2020 from the 12 TW hours used in 1997.

The world's tidal stream resource is in the early stages of delineation. Europe has led the way with tidal resource assessments in 1993, 1996 and updated in 2004. Europe has a resource in excess of 10,000 MW. Canada has recently completed a study that puts the total resource at about 44 MW.  A study by EPRI in conjunction with Canadian and US maritime provinces/states identified many large potential sites for development when an efficient environmentally benign technology is commercialized. The resource in the rest of the world is poorly defined.