Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has received £3.5m of funding to help deploy the first commercial tidal energy farm in UK waters.
The British tidal energy firm received the investment from a group led by Carbon Trust and including Bank Invest, EDF Energy and High Tide.
The group hopes part of the funding will support its deployment of SeaGen, the world’s first grid-connected tidal energy system, in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.
The 1.2MW device has already been in operation at the site for more than six months. The power generated is being sold to ESB Independent Energy under a Power Purchase Agreement to provide businesses across Northern Ireland with renewable electricity.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: ‘The UK is leading the way in marine energy and stands to reap the rewards through new jobs and revenue. Marine Current Turbines has developed one of the leading tidal energy devices and its proven technology is now ready to be deployed in a commercial-scale tidal farm that will be a UK first.
‘The current economic climate has created difficulties for companies such as MCT operating within a capital intensive sector. We’re delighted to be able to lead this important group of investors in providing funding to a key player in the UK’s growing marine energy sector.’
Martin Wright, managing director of MCT, added: ‘We have established clear water ahead of our rivals and we see this significant investment, allied by the government’s actions to encourage tidal and wave energy, giving the company a massive boost to realise the commercial opportunities that exist in the UK as well as overseas markets.’
The investment has been drawn from a new £18m fund from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), which is aimed at supporting projects in the UK’s clean energy sector.
Tidal energy appears to be the way forward as the number one renewable energy. What devices are to be put in place to protect marine life from being injured and killed in the sub-sea turbines, I’m especially concerned for the larger creatures such as dolphins and porpoises?
Surely tidal energy is far more reliable than the wind. I know much more technology is required than for a wind turbine, but surely much more emphisis should be placed on this source. There seems to be great scope in our great rivers. The Thames, Severn, Humber, perhaps the channel too and also the flows around the Northern Isles.
How nuch does it cost for delivered electricity to the grid? There are numerous ways that are scientifically feasible, the issue is what is economically most affordable. There is not an infinite amount of investment capital available.
In reply to D Evans’s question about marine wildlife, I believe the prevailing wisdom is that most marine life can get out of the way without any help. These turbines spin at about 12 RPM (I think), which for a 20m diameter blade gives tip speeds of about 12.5 m/s, which makes them relatively slow moving, certainly no faster than a fast boat, and cetaceans can generally swim faster than that, and I reckon their natural sonars would be pretty effective. The big Kaplan-type turbines that would be used in a tidal barrage would be more of an issue – these are known to be dangerous to fish from experience with hydro-electric schemes. However, I have heard talk of tidal stream companies considering whether some sort of deterrent is required, like a sonar or electromagnetic field (these are definitely possible, and I understand they are sometimes used in hydroeletric schemes).
Excellent news! However we must realise that funding is coming from us, the taxpayers. We really should by now be able to evaluate Seagen’s performance. At present readers know nothing and I sincerly hope The Engineer can provide an interesting article on the device’s operational performance including obviously overall kWh produced in a lunar month. Then we can evaluate its load factor.
This is good news, but should only be regarded as one of a number of possible options. Many other forms of energy generation need exploiting to ensure we do not again fall into the trap of underinvestment in technologies.
The UK should be investing heavilty in Tidal. Owing to the way the sea swirls around the UK with the tides, 6 or so tidal plants at strategic points ensure that 3 plants are alwats experiencing tidal flow. There is no risk of the moon going away anytime soon and so tidal has no fear of being becalmed the way wind does.
Wind is important (and already comercial) but todal shows even better promise.
Tidal power is entirely predicatable and phased around (for example) the UK. Thus as A W Black has said, a number of geographically diverse stations can harvest continuous predictable power.
Commercially, the challenge is to develop a solution to harvest grown-up power levels at an economically viable level. This means both technical development and global deployment.
The current fad on wind (and solar) power helps but its not a total solution. It is not reliable.
Tidal power adds a level of predicatability not offered by other renewable energy sources.
These could also work in conjunction with the Norwegian osmotic electrical generation technology currently being tested – and which should be available in 2015.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_power
In David MacKay’s “Without Hot Air”, he shows that the most wave power we could reasonable extract around GB is 4kWh/day per person. Compare this with the government figure for our total energy consumption of 125kW/day per person, and I leave readers to form their own conclusion as to the usefulness of going down the wave power route, particularly given the very small progress that has been made in this field of technology.