Scotrenewables hits 1GWh tidal generation mark

SR2000 at EMEC (Photo: Scotrenewables Tidal Power)

 
Scotrenewables Tidal Power’s floating tidal energy turbine SR2000 has clocked up over 1GWh of tidal energy generation at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) at record time.

The first full-scale turbine from the Orkney-based tidal energy developer Scotrenewables, the 2MW SR2000, was launched last year from the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast before being towed to the Orkney Islands for grid-connected testing.

Initial generation started earlier this year, after which Scotrenewables claimed it set the world record with the highest export level from a tidal turbine of 2.2MW.

Hitting over the 1GWh generation mark, the company said it broke EMEC’s record for fastest generation from a tidal energy turbine.

Andrew Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Scotrenewables Tidal Power, said: “I’m comfortable in highlighting we have had a small number of outages within this period, including where we have had to make maintenance interventions but, because of the accessible nature of our technology, we have been able to respond to these quickly and with very low-cost vessels, validating the engineering approach we have pioneered here at Scotrenewables.”

Commenting on the SR2000’s performance, Neil Kermode, Managing Director of EMEC, said: “It is exhilarating to witness the unprecedented performance of Scotrenewables’ tidal turbine. It is clear and demonstrable progress for the team, but it is also progress for this exciting and innovative sector as a whole as it moves towards commercialization.”

The floating tidal energy turbine was engineered and built with a 16-meter rotor diameter for each of its 1MW turbines.

The SR2000 project has been supported by Scottish Enterprise’s WATERS II scheme along with investments from Scotrenewables’ shareholders which include ABB, DP Energy, Fred Olsen, Total and Scottish government via the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF).

Scotrenewables recently announced it had appointed financial advisors, Simmons & Company Ltd, to assist with a fundraising effort to support the business transition to commercial operations.

With reference to the recent performance the company’s Chief Finance Officer, Chris Milne, said: “We are confident we have a very unique and exciting proposition here at Scotrenewables, and this latest performance further underlines that and is accelerating commercial demand for our technology.”