Minesto gain consent for Deep Green tidal energy power plant

Natural Resources Wales has approved a marine licence application by Minesto for the installation and operation of a 0.5MW Deep Green tidal energy power plant in Holyhead Deep. 

The initial device will demonstrate and prove the technology ahead of plans for installing a 10MW array at the site. The installation site is located in the southern corner of Holyhead Deep, 6.5km off the coast of Anglesey

The first phase of the project will include a single Deep Green device unit, seabed foundation and a surfaced moored buoy, with installation planned this year.

An Environmental Impact Assessment carried out by Xodus Group considered the potential impacts acts on fisheries, marine mammals, sea birds, marine archaeology and cultural heritage as well as shipping and navigation, which were concluded to be ‘not significant’.

Holyhead Deep is said to mark the starting point of the industrialisation of Deep Green technology ,which is the first low-velocity tidal energy project in the world. Holyhead Deep matches all the site requirements by providing low-flow tidal velocities (1.5–2m/s mean peak flow) at a depth of 80–100 meters. Following successful deployment and testing of the first installed power plant, more Deep Green devices will be installed to form a tidal energy array.

“This first step of implementing our unique technology in commercial scale is obviously an important one, and it is therefore satisfying to have reached this milestone,” said Ylva Sörqvist Hultgren, site development manager at Minesto.