ORKNEY, UK: The first trickle of tidal power is flowing into UK homes now with the National Grid taking its first connection from an ocean-based turbine.

Ireland's OpenHydro installed the device at the European Marine Energy Centre's (EMEC) test site off the island of Eday in Orkney two years ago, but only now has it been hooked up to the country's electricity network.

The single 250 kW turbine is just strong enough power 100 homes, but is expected to pave the way for a major tidal-power development in the Channel Islands next year.

OpenHydro chairman Brendan Gilmore said, "This is a hugely significant development not only for OpenHydro, but for the future of the Tidal Energy industry and security of energy supply. It is also a further major step in our program to deploy an array of 1 MW turbines in Alderney, the Channel Islands, in 2009."

The OpenHydro turbine is one of the first tidal technologies in the world to reach the stage of permanent deployment at sea and is the accumulation of 10 years' design and development work, OpenHydro Chief Executive James Ives added.

Testing of the power generation of its Open-Centre Turbine has been carried out at EMEC over the past 18 months.

The Open-Centre Turbine works by converting the movement of water directly into electricity. OpenHydro's commercial deployments will be mounted on the seabed where no part of the structure will be visible from the surface and will be deep enough not to interfere with shipping traffic.

OpenHydro has already won tenders to supply and install turbines to tidal sites in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Alderney, Channel Islands.

OpenHydro has recently commenced the manufacture of its next generation 1 MW Open-Centre Turbine, which will be deployed in the Bay of Fundy and Alderney.  The turbines are being constructed at the company's design and production facility in Greenore, Co Louth, Ireland.

Source: EnergyCurrent 

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