Two UK marine energy companies have been awarded a share of £20 million under the Government’s Marine Energy Array Demonstrator (MEAD) scheme.
MeyGen Ltd and Sea Generation Wales Ltd have both won the funding to support the development and testing of pre-commercial marine devices in array formations at sea.
MeyGen Ltd is testing in the Pentland Firth Inner Sound in Scotland and SeaGeneration is working with turbines developed by Marine Current Turbines in the waters around Anglesey. MeyGen is working with Andritz Hydro Hammerfest 1.4MW turbines.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said:
“This £20 million will give MeyGen and SeaGeneration Wales the boost they need to leap to the next level and test their innovative turbines in formations out at sea.
“These projects will provide valuable insight into how best to harness the power of the sea and take us one vital step closer to realising the full potential of marine in our future energy mix.
“The UK, with its amazing natural resource and outstanding technical know-how is already leading the way on marine power for the rest of the world to follow, and I want to ensure we stay top of this table. I am delighted that MeyGen and SeaGeneration Wales are rising to the challenge and wish them every success.”
CEO of Siemens Energy Hydro & Ocean Unit Achim Wörner said:
“We are very pleased that the Skerries project being developed by Sea Generation Wales Ltd has been selected for the £10m Marine Energy Array Demonstration award.
“The Skerries project located in Anglesey, Wales, will be one of the first arrays deployed using the Siemens owned Marine Current Turbines SeaGen S tidal turbines. The marine consent for the project was recently awarded, the first tidal array to be consented in Wales. The 10MW array will be fully operational in 2015.”
The two projects were chosen after a UK wide open competition launched in April 2012. Bids were judged on a range of criteria including the ability to generate a minimum of 7GWh per year and the use of at least three generating devices, previously demonstrated at full scale in sea conditions. Projects will be up and running by the end of March 2016.
ETI awards £1.4m to Pelamis Wave Power
Meanwhile, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has awarded £1.4 million of funding to Pelamis Wave Power to improve the cost-effectiveness of its large-scale wave energy converter arrays.
The project will aim to accelerate the development of Pelamis Wave Power’s current design of offshore wave energy converters (WEC) that use the motion of waves to generate electricity.
The ETI commissioned and funded project will examine innovation across device design, test a range of alternative materials other than steel, such as concrete, and explore the best possible layouts of arrays. The results of this will inform the best routes and supply-chains to develop commercially viable wave energy technologies when deployed in multi-array wave energy farms.
Simon Cheeseman, ETI Programme Manager for Marine said:
“Wave energy represents a very significant resource around the UK coast and Wave Energy Convertors could play an important part in delivering sustainable, low-cost electricity to UK consumers in the future.
“Furthermore, the global technology export market has the potential for huge growth. However, feasibility of full-scale wave energy arrays is currently unclear and we need a better understanding of systems cost and performance to allow us to accelerate from today’s present individual devices to an array-scale and develop the market confidence to invest in meaningful UK deployment levels.”
Richard Yemm, Pelamis Wave Power Commercial Director, adds:
“The ETI commissioned and funded Phase 1 project will play a pivotal role in enabling the UK wave energy industry prove its potential to be a major contributor in the UK’s future energy mix. The pedigree and track record of the Pelamis technology provides an excellent foundation for this comprehensive and informed study.”
Phase one will see Pelamis further develop the existing Pelamis P2 device, two of which are currently on trial at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland. The project will look at innovations in device size and shape, materials, mechanisms, array-design, deployment, operation and maintenance, and will identify the best options for meeting the cost of energy targets as set out in the ETI / UKERC 2010 Marine Energy Technology Roadmap.
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