UK renewables milestone for Rolls-Royce

31 October 2011


Harnessing the energy of tidal streams, the 500kW tidal turbine prototype was designed and built by Rolls-Royce wholly owned subsidiary Tidal Generation Limited.

Installed as part of the Deep-Gen III project, co-funded by the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board, the Rolls-Royce prototype tidal turbine is currently deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) offshore test site off the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is the first EMEC located project to both receive Renewable Obligation Certificates and to reach 100MWh of supply to the grid.

The tidal unit’s three-bladed turbine is attached by a tripod to the seabed and can operate, fully submerged, at water depth of 40m. Its design allows the turbine to continually rotate to face the incoming tide at an optimal angle, says the company.

“This is a significant milestone for the UK marine renewables industry,: commented Neil Morgan, Head of Energy at the Technology Strategy Board. “The UK is well-placed to exploit tidal stream energy resources and, if commercialised on a large scale, this technology could be an important part of the renewable energy mix we'll need in the future, and could create jobs and exports for the UK.”

As part of the Energy Technologies Institute funded ReDAPT (Reliable Data Acquisition Platform for Tidal) consortium project, Rolls-Royce is currently building a 1MW tidal turbine demonstration unit that will be deployed in mid-2012 at EMEC in Orkney. The project will deliver detailed environmental and performance information never before achieved at this scale in real sea conditions. Rolls-Royce is also working with a number of developers in advancing demonstration arrays, systematic arrangements of turbines, which will lead to large scale commercial deployment.




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