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This image, from 2017, shows one of the MeyGen project’s tidal stream turbines. The MeyGen array has a total of four turbines.

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The emerging tidal power sector seems to have taken another step forward — an Edinburgh-headquartered firm said Monday that its project had achieved a world first by producing 50 gigawatt hours of electricity.

“During the early hours of this morning … our tidal stream array off the coast of the Pentland Firth became the first tidal stream array in the world to generate 50GWh of electricity,” Graham Reid, the CEO of SAE Renewables, said in a statement.

Reid described the news as a “significant milestone in delivering tidal stream power at scale.”

“Total global generation from all other tidal devices and sites is less than 50% of that amount,” he added.

Located in waters north of mainland Scotland, SAE Renewables’ MeyGen array is made up of four 1.5 megawatt turbines and has a total capacity of 6 MW when fully operational. Currently, three turbines are in operation.

“The MeyGen site has been operational since 2017, we have overcome many challenges, with reliability being an issue in the early days, but we have learned an immense amount along the way,” Reid said.

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Scotland has a long association with North Sea oil and gas production, but in recent years it’s become a hub for companies and projects focused on tidal power and marine energy in general.

These businesses include Nova Innovation, which has developed the 600 kilowatt Shetland Tidal Array, and Orbital Marine Power, which is working on what it says is the “most powerful tidal turbine in the world.”

North of the Scottish mainland, the archipelago of Orkney is home to the European Marine Energy Centre, where wave and tidal energy developers can test and assess their technology in the open sea.

Relatively small footprint

Though there’s excitement about the potential of marine energy, the footprint of tidal stream projects remains much smaller than that of other renewables.

Some progress has been made in recent years, however. In data released in March 2022, trade association Ocean Energy Europe said 2.2 MW of tidal stream capacity was installed in Europe in 2021, up from just 260 KW in 2020. Globally, 3.12 MW of tidal stream capacity was installed.

But by way of comparison, Europe installed 17.4 gigawatts of wind power capacity in 2021, according to figures from industry body WindEurope.

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UK loses bid to keep Apple appeal against demand for iPhone ‘backdoor’ a secret

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UK loses bid to keep Apple appeal against demand for iPhone 'backdoor' a secret

Chief Executive of Apple, Tim Cook gives a thumb’s up during a tour the Apple Headquarters on December 12, 2024 in London, England. 

Chris Jackson | Getty Images

Apple has triumphed over an effort from the U.K. government to keep details secret of its appeal against an order to create a “backdoor” to iPhone users’ data.

The U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal on Monday published a ruling dismissing the government’s attempt to prevent details from a hearing on the appeal from being made public. The government had tried to keep the information secret on the grounds it posed risks to national security.

Judges Rabinder Singh and Judge Jeremy Johnson said in their ruling that the U.K. government’s request to keep details of the hearing private “would be the most fundamental interference with the principle of open justice.”

“It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place,” they said.

Britain’s Home Office was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

‘Backdoor’ to encrypted data

The ruling relates to an appeal made by Apple against a demand from the U.K. government to allow officials to access iPhone users’ encrypted data via a technical “backdoor.”

This backdoor would allow the government to access information secured by Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system, which applies end-to-end encryption to a wide range of iCloud data.

Governments in the U.S., U.K. and EU have long expressed dissatisfaction with end-to-end encryption, arguing it enables criminals, terrorists and sex offenders to conceal illicit activity.

In the U.K., the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 empowers the government to compel tech companies to weaken their encryption technologies through so-called “backdoors” — a heavily controversial policy for both the tech industry and privacy campaigners.

Apple — which is known for its pro-privacy stance — has pushed back on efforts to weaken its encryption tools, saying this would undermine its security and put users at risk.

As a result of the government’s order, Apple withdrew its ADP system for U.K. users in February. In a blog post at the time, the tech giant said it has “never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”

“We are deeply disappointed that our customers in the UK will no longer have the option to enable Advanced Data Protection (ADP), especially given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in the post.

“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and we are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.”

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Tech stocks whipsaw in volatile trading session as Trump stands by tariffs

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Tech stocks whipsaw in volatile trading session as Trump stands by tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk reacts on the day of a rally in support of a conservative state Supreme Court candidate of an April 1 election in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. March 30, 2025. 

Vincent Alban | Reuters

Technology stocks teetered in volatile trading Monday as President Donald Trump stood by his sweeping global tariff plans following last week’s devastating selloff.

The Magnificent Seven stocks — Nvidia, Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet — were largely lower after briefly rallying amid a short-lived broader market attempt to stage a rebound. Stocks temporarily jumped on speculation of a possibly delay in the tariffs, but the White House later dismissed talk of a pause.

The technology sector is coming off a brutal week. The Magnificent Seven stocks collectively shed more than $1.8 trillion in market value during a two-day market selloff, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded its worst week since the onslaught of the pandemic and entered a bear market.

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Trump held firm on his aggressive global tariffs plans over the weekend, with an initial unilateral 10% tariff going into effect Saturday. Wall Street hoped for progress on negotiations between the administration and other countries or news of a possible delay in reciprocal tariffs slated for April 9.

The plan has already received widespread backlash in corporate America. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that the new levies will hike prices on domestic and imported goods and pressure the slowing U.S. economy. Many car companies have already announced a pause in shipments, price hikes and other measures. Trade groups have also warned of higher prices at the grocery store and hikes on electronics such as personal computers.

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, downplaying the recent market meltdown.

Other technology stocks also looked to build on last week’s pain. Oracle and Palantir Technologies declined more than 2% each.

Some semiconductor stocks also struggled as investors fretted over potential demand destruction stemming from the tariffs. Advanced Micro Devices was last down about 4% each, while Intel declined more than 2%.

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Nintendo President Doug Bowser on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what’s next for the gaming giant

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Nintendo President Doug Bowser on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what's next for the gaming giant

Nintendo on Wednesday unveiled details for the Switch 2. It’ll include a bigger screen and controllers and is a faster version than its predecessor, which sold more than 150 million units since its 2017 release.

The Switch 2 will hit store shelves on June 5 for $449.99, up from $300 for the original Switch. Like the first Switch, gamers will be able to use the Switch 2 as both a handheld console and hook it up to a television. Nintendo on Friday said it would delay preorders for the device following President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs.”

The device will launch with the game “Mario Kart World.” Other games coming for the Switch 2 include “Donkey Kong Bananza,” “Street Fighter 6,” “The Duskbloods” and “Kirby Air Riders.”

Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser sat down with technology correspondent Steve Kovach in a CNBC exclusive interview after unveiling the new console’s details. Bowser touched on the technology boosts in the Switch 2, upcoming games, the future of Nintendo’s efforts in film and entertainment beyond video games, and what Trump’s new tariffs mean for console prices in the U.S.

Watch the video for the full interview.

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