Marine energy developer Atlantis is opening up its Pentland Firth tidal stream project to a second developer, in an attempt to meet the Crown Estate's licensing requirements, writes Rachel Johnson. 

Singapore-based Atlantis Resources Corporation is putting out a call for developers who would be interested in providing an extra 10MW of energy to the firm's proposed tidal-powered data centre.

The call came when it became apparent that the firm's own technology would not be permitted to fulfil the data centre's energy requirements alone.

Announced last month by the company (see this New Energy Focus story), the off-grid data centre will require 30MW of energy, and is expected to be operational by 2011. Eventually, it is to be scaled up to a full capacity of 150MW in 2013.

However, Crown Estate licensing guidelines currently require all technologies proposed for the Pentland Firth - the stretch of water between the Orkney Isles and mainland Scotland - to have an installed capability of 10MW or less, until they have been trialled for two years in the water at the site.

Atlantis will be trialling both its shallow water turbine, "Nereus", and its deep water turbine, "Solon", at 10MW each, it will be able to generate 20MW in total. But, this leaves the 30MW power needs of the data centre with a 10MW shortfall, prompting the call from Atlantis for a partner to trial a third 10MW technology.

Grid wait

Atlantis hopes that by keeping the centre off-grid, it would sidestep the ten year wait for a grid connection in Scotland. The firm says it is a great opportunity for another firm to take advantage of the off-grid opportunities, as well as bypass the commercial viability problems associated with small-scale 10MW projects.

Dr James Mitchell, head of business development for Atlantis Resources Corporation in London, said: "There are real hurdles that need to be overcome if we are to make the most of the UK's huge tidal resource, not the least of which is the 10 year queue for renewables schemes to connect to the grid in Northern Scotland.

"Our proposal is an example of the kind of innovative projects that we need to overcome these challenges. Atlantis is committed to working with the rest of the industry to increase the pace of commercialisation and demonstrate that tidal energy can play a significant role in the future energy mix. The UK really can lead the world in this respect."

A spokesman for Atlantis told New Energy Focus today that the company is specifically looking for a tidal stream partner with the ability to fund itself.

The firm's Nereus shallow water tidal stream turbine has been tested and grid connected in Australia. It is a horizontal axis turbine targeted for shallow open water with a depth of up to 25 metres, that uses Aquafoils to capture momentum from the water to drive a chain perpendicular to the flow.

In comparison, the deep water Solon tidal stream turbine works on a horizontal axis in open water with depth of 25 metres or more. Developed over the last two years, Solon is ideally suited to floating arrays in water depths exceeding 40 metres.

"There are real hurdles that need to be overcome if we are to make the most of the UK's huge tidal resource." says Dr James Mitchell, Atlantis.

It has emerged that, contrary to previous press reports, the off-grid data centre in the Pentland Firth is not intended for Morgan Stanley, but it is believed that Google has expressed an interest.

Atlantis is backed by Morgan Stanley,  and currently has its UK base at Canary Wharf, but is hoping to relocate to another office in London.

Leasing

The acquisition of a Crown Estate licence to develop marine power in the Pentland Firth requires tidal developers to have previously carried out extensive testing of their technology at a site such as EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkneys.

The Crown Estate is expected to award sites in the Pentland Firth to developers in the summer of 2009, before the earliest site deployment in 2010, and the predicted full 700MW capacity in 2020.

Source: http://www.newenergyfocus.com/

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