Tidal turbine confirmed for Strangford narrows

Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20 on Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.

At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world’s largest-ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1,000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years.

The installation of SeaGen in Strangford Lough will be carried out by A2SEA A/S of Denmark, one of Europe’s leading offshore installation contractors.

The SeaGen 1.2MW commercial demonstrator has been developed on the basis of turbine installed by MCT off Lynmouth Devon in 2003. It has taken the subsequent four years for the company to design and build SeaGen and secure the necessary environmental and planning consents. This commercial demonstration project has permission to operate in Strangford Lough for a period of up to five years. It is intended as the prototype for commercial applications of the technology that will follow.

MCT's Managing Director Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “SeaGen’s installation is a very significant milestone for both Marine Current Turbines and the emerging marine energy sector. Following from our previous experience with SeaFlow, our 300kW experimental test system installed in 2003 off the north Devon coast, we are confident that SeaGen will show that tidal energy can be truly competitive with other forms of power generation. Decentralised tidal current energy is fundamentally predictable and sustainable. It is also environmentally benign.”

Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Mr Wright added: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen technology.”

Recognising the special marine environment of Strangford Lough, MCT has undertaken a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme. This programme is already active and is managed by Royal Haskoning, a leading environmental consultancy, working in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast and the St Andrews University Sea Mammals Research Unit.

The programme is overseen by an independent body, chaired by David Erwin, a former Chief Executive of the Ulster Wildlife Trust.

The A2SEA jack-up barge 'Jumping Jack' is scheduled to sail from Belfast’s Harland & Wolf shipyard, where SeaGen is already complete and waiting, to Strangford Lough on August 20.

It is expected that the drilling of a single pile into the seabed and the installation of the twin-turbine device will take 14 days, with commissioning and power generation to the local grid shortly afterwards.

Martin Huss, Sales & Marketing Director of A2SEA said: “We are delighted to be working with MCT on this important and challenging project and hope it is the start of a long and rewarding relationship as tidal technology enters the market place in the UK.”

(SP/KMcA)