I'm not particularly well-versed in the technology but is there any reason the UK isn't utilising tidal power more? We have areas with some impressive tidal ranges including the Severn Estuary which has the second highest in the world. There was lots of talk about building a tidal lagoon in Swansea back when I lived in Wales but I've not heard anything about that since I moved away some years ago.
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The Swansea project you're thinking of was... controversial. It sure smells a lot more like a scam than you'd ideally like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_Lagoon_Swansea_Bay
The Swansea tidal lagoon was well dodgy… the promoters owned a quarry in Cornwall and they wanted to sell it’s rock at inflated prices (plus producing concrete is hardly carbon friendly)
Severn barrage is interesting but would have a quite large impact on the local nature habitat
I think the reason is that the water keeps surprising people by being really corrosive and otherwise damaging the equipment that's inside it; so it does work, it's just been more expensive to build and maintain than the other options so far.
My understanding is that the technology for hydro isn’t really there as of today. Maybe that will change in the future - that was certainly the case for wind and solar