Tidal Energy has been given approval to deploy its 1.2MW DeltaStream tidal energy device in Ramsey Sound off Pembrokeshire.
The Cardiff-based company’s device will provide electricity to the local distribution network during its 12-month test period, with the potential to power up to 1,000 homes.
According to Tidal Energy, DeltaStream rests on the seabed without the need for a positive anchoring system, generating electricity from three separate horizontal-axis turbines mounted on a common frame.
The use of three turbines on a single, 30m-wide, triangular frame produces a low centre of gravity that stops the device overturning and sliding.
Approval to deploy the device was given yesterday by energy secretary Chris Huhne.
‘The UK’s great marine heritage and our engineering genius make the potential for wave and tidal energy here vast,’ said Huhne. ‘We must make the most of our natural marine resource — not just to cut our emissions but to boost energy security and create jobs.’
Separately, Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has secured an agreement for lease from the Crown Estate for a four-turbine tidal farm in Kyle Rhea — a strait of water between the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland.
The project is likely to have a maximum power of 8MW and have the capacity to generate electricity for up to 8,000 homes in the Highlands and Islands by harnessing the power of the fast tidal currents that pass through Kyle Rhea.
MCT is aiming to deploy the £40m Kyle Rhea tidal farm by 2014.
I grew up in Newport – Mon. Watching the 52 foot spring tides convinced me of the enormous amount of power in the tides…. When will we see the first application in the Severn estuary~Bristol channel? – Even in the river Usk? I’m sure the engineers can do it cost effectively – it’s just the political will that is missing…. E.G. The Severn crossing is just a bridge – all be it quite long…. so it could carry cables to shore from an array of these MCT devices. And the bridge naturally solves the shipping problem… they don’t pass under all of the bridge. Oh, and these sub-surface devices cannot be called an eyesore like the wind turbines that can be seen offshore on a clear day if you have a good enough telescope.
How about installing turbines in the Thames barrier and using them to generate electricity from the Thames tidal flow. The main infrastructure is already in place so potentially a low cost upgrade, with power users close by so low transmission losses. Ships can use the Thames at low water twice a day or maybe change one of the barriers into a lock.
So, 8,000Mw maximum power is enough to supply up to 8,000 homes.
In other words, once they have transitioned from carbon fuels to tidal power, Highland families will be expected to huddle round a single tiny 1Kw electric fire of a winter’s night, their lives unlit, their food uncooked, their utensils and bodies washed only in the frozen waters of a nearby burn. No cooker, no fridge, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no television – not even a light bulb.
And that’s during the good times – for when the tide slackens and turns, as it does at different times every day and every night, those families will need power from other people’s turbines further up the coast just to keep their one little glowing element alive.
The strategic imperative of energy self-sufficiency is clear, and there is much to commend about the deployment of tidal-powered generators in terms of greater reliability and lower visual pollution than wind-power. But obviously spurious projections such as these invite mockery, and risk bringing the programme into disrepute.
The arithmetic is not complicated. If we make the more realistic assumption that 8,000 Mw peak power might feed 2,000 homes, or around 7,000 people, then the need in Scotland would be for some 1,000 perfectly synchronised, eternally faultless, maintenance-free turbine farms such as this one – or perhaps 1,500 farms, if we allow for overlap of tidal times and downtime. That gives a more credible, and easily understood picture of the enormity of what would be required for national energy self-sufficiency.
Jan Luffman – Yes, it is enough. My consumption monitor shows that in the summer I use around 5kWh per day, and in winter up to around 20kWh per day. OK I have a 3 bedroomed semi, electric cooking, gas heating, dishwasher, washing m/c and the usual lights etc. BUT 1kW per hour is adequate.
£40 million for 8 MW = £500 million for 100 MW.
100 MWe Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs) could be coming off production line at £150 million each, in 10 years, if we could only get a blind Geoff Huhne and his DECC to commit the piddling £300 million to get the first-of-a-kind LFTR built.
For every 100 MWe LFTR we put on line, we can spend the £350 million of taxes we save on Health, Education, Law and Order, etc..
The same goes for diverting taxes from wind, solar PV and every other inconsequential renewable ever mentioned.
Colin Megson,
Yes, and in and in ten years time PV panels could be coming off the production line for £100 pound each, and 50 megawatt fuel cells counld be coming off production lines at 20million pound each. We can all make these sort of claims, but when it comes to nuclear power the claims have gone on a bit too long for me. When I was a kid in the fifties we were told we should all be getting our electricity for practically nothing by now, according to the nuclear lobbyists of that time.
As I have stated in comments before; over 98% of our electricity is generated just one way, I don’t think that figure will be so high by the end of this century. Nuclear power is 20th century thinking, we are moving on from that.
From an engineering perspective Deltastream is a beautiful design. No bending moments need to be handled by the foundations. That means it can be just lowered into place.
The next step will be to fill the tubes with air so it can be floated out and sunk into the right place.
Probably scale it up to 50m and 5MW.
Then mass produce and put a thousand in the Pentland Firth. And about 200 in the Severn Estuary, and another 1000 in the Cook Straights (New Zealand).
Renewables need to be invested in now, only through this development will we see a future benifit and viable solution. By having Solar, Wind, Tidal and Hydro all working together we can reduce or need for fossil fuels and save this resource for other applications and not just for fuel/power.