Scotland achieved a major milestone this week by successfully installing a 10MW tidal power array in the Sound of Islay, off the coast of Orkney.
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Federal regulators yesterday granted Portland, Maine.-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. a license to install a 300-kilowatt tidal power project in Cobscook Bay, near Eastport, Maine putting it in the running to be the first U.S. company to operate a tidal energy project connected to the power grid [...] BBC The 1 MW tidal turbine will power a computer data center and is 75 feet high and weighs 1430 tons. The blades move slowly, so there should be no danger to aquatic life. This is a commercial application, not a test. While 1 MW is small compared to wind turbines (some offshore turbines [...] Openhydro OpenHydro is supplying the four 2-MW turbines, 115 deep off the coast of Paimpol-Bréhat. The turbines are each 72 feet in diameter and are anchored along the seabed. This is clean, renewable energy being produced on a completely reliable schedule. Unlike solar and wind, we know precisely when the tides are coming. [...] Six proposed submerged turbines could provide power for 2,700 homes. Imagine the power that could be generated if there were thousands of them delivering electricity on an utterly reliable timetable based on the tides. The Atlantis Resources AR-1000 tidal turbine is now live off Scotland. It is 73 feet tall, and will power up to 1,000 homes. Maybe one day there will be hundreds of them. The turbine has two sets of rotors, one revolves clockwsie, the other counter-clockwise. Torque is eliminated, allowing the turbines to be moored rather than attached to the seabed. The turbine has the capacity to directly drive a flooded, permanent magnet, and contra-rotating generator, without any kind of gearbox. [...] A government thinktank has predicted that the British marine energy sector could be worth £76bn to the economy and support 68,000 jobs by 2050. They say total capacity by 2050 could be a substantial 27.5 GW. [...] This massive tidal turbine is designed by Iberdrole, the giant Spanish wind turbine company. They plan to install them off the inner Hebrides where they will generate 10 MW, double the power needed for two nearby islands. The two companies, Bord Gáis Energy and Open Hydro, also plan a joint 100 MW tidal power installation of Ireland. Open Hydro turbines revolve slowly, are lubrication-free, and have open centers so as to minimize impact on aquatic life. |  | ||||
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