Green Momentum

This month saw David Kidney MP, Under secretary for energy and climate change speak at the Renewable UK Conference in Westminster. The topic of the talk was on the growing productivity of wave and tidal energy in the UK. He commented “Harnessing electricity from our wave and tidal resources not only plays a crucial part in meeting our climate change target; but also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK.”

Wind power is now the top renewable source, due to the expansion of offshore wind farms and this is an encouraging move towards harnessing weather elements. David Kidney has pledged to support the wave and tidal power projects and it is now said that the UK are seen as the leaders in marine energy technology.

 In April 2008, the world’s first commercial tidal current power system with a capacity of 1.2MW was put into action in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. With the tide flowing at over 7.4 knots it was an ideal location to place this world’s first.

The SeaGen tidal turbine was installed by MCT (Marine Current Turbines Ltd) and is the largest grid-connected marine renewable system in the world. Similar to the wind turbines it is a modular technology and works on generating low carbon energy.

Strangford Lough’s turbine has recently reached the milestone marker of 1000 operational hours, being the first and only tidal turbine to have done so. This world’s largest ever tidal current device generates clean and sustainable electricity for 1000 homes and has so far delivered over 800MW into the Northern Ireland grid. With expectations being exceeded for this system it is leading the way in technology of this type and will shape the future of tidal current power. Martin Wright MCT’s MD reflected “We will build on the success ofSeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm of up to 10MW in UK waters within three years.”  

After recently being granted the lease, MCT are going to deploy the award-winning SeaGenturbines off Brough Ness, on the southernmost tip of the Orkney Islands and north east of John O’Groats. By 2017, 66 SeaGen tidal turbines are going to be placed in three phases with a total generating capacity of 99MW. That’s enough power for almost 100,000 homes.