SImec Atlantis Energy Ltd (SAE) together with its partner Asturfeito, has successfully completed the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) tidal turbine pitch system development project.
The pitch system connects the blades to the turbines rotor shaft and controls the blades pitch angle within the tidal flow. The new pitch system enables the rotor diameter and rated capacity of the turbine to increase, and the new pitch actuator system will increase system reliability.
The testing was completed in December 2021 at Asturfeito’s site in northern Spain. All performance requirements were successfully demonstrated, including successful operation under prolonged periods of “worst case” tidal loads being applied to the system, simulating the rapidly changing loads that the turbine will experience in operation.
“We have demonstrated that by working with a great supply chain we can make significant steps forward in our mission of reducing the cost of tidal energy,” commented Drew Blaxland, Director Atlantis Turbines and Services Division. “I would like to recognise the huge effort made by our project partner Asturfeito, who produced many of the system’s components. I would also like to thank the major subsystem suppliers; Involution Technologies Ltd who designed and produced the gearbox system, SKF who produced the bearings and Nidec SSB Wind Systems who produced the motors and controllers.”
“It’s great to see that testing has been so successful,” added Álvaro Zarza, Asturfeito business development manager. “We look forward to working with SAE in future serial production of pitch and other turbine subsystems.”
