Tidal-stream device undergoes final testing

The Neptune Proteus NP1000, from East Yorkshire-based Neptune Renewable Energy, was transferred by sea from Wear Dock in Sunderland and is now moored in William Wright Dock in Hull, where it is being fitted for deployment in the Humber Estuary.

When in place, it is anticipated that the Neptune Proteus NP1000 will be able to generate at least 1,000MWh/year. The company stated that this would be enough to power 1,000 homes.

Jack Hardisty, technical director of Neptune, told The Engineer in January that, once fully commercialised, there will no devices like it on the market.

‘We are not aware of any other device designed to capture the shallow-water resource,’ he said.

Weighing more than 150 tonnes and stretching to 20 metres long, with a beam of 14 metres, the Proteus NP1000 consists of a steel hull, a vertically mounted turbine and buoyancy chambers.

Nigel Petrie, chairman of Neptune, stated: ‘The key advantages that we believe set the vertical-axis Proteus apart from alternative solutions includes the fact that, at this stage, we are not aware of any similar device that is designed to capture the shallow-water resource in estuarine sites at significantly lower capital, and operation and maintenance costs.