Tests end for ‘game-changing’ tidal turbine

AN EXPERIMENTAL tidal turbine in Loch Etive will cease testing in April.

The ‘game changing’ PLAT-I platform was installed in the Falls of Lora near Connel Bridge in November 2017 by the Orkney and Leith-based company Sustainable Marine Energy (SME).

It promises ‘low-cost’ power for island and coastal communities which currently rely on diesel, generating up to 280kW.

The floating three-hulled vessel, assembled at Dunstaffnage Marina 1.5 miles from the site, has four underwater turbines suspended underneath, which can harness clean energy from the world’s tides and rivers.

SME explains on its website: ‘The PLAT-I is designed for inshore tidal sites to provide power at a community scale and proves tidal energy is a viable clean energy alternative for coastal and island off-takers with limited infrastructure.’

The turbines spin with the incoming tidal flow and generate power. The platform is moored to the seabed using four mooring lines and anchors. The platform then rotates about the moorings with the wind and tide – like a boat. It will not be exporting power, so the platform is entirely self-contained. There are no cables linking PLAT-I to the shore.

Once tests are concluded in the tidal race at Connel, the PLAT-1 will be disassembled and transported to the Philippines or Canada, where it will be connected to the grid to demonstrate its commercial viability.

John McGlynn, SME’s commercial lead in platforms systems, said: ‘We do not have a licence beyond the end of April. The plan is to decommission the system and clean up the site in the very near future.’

According to the Scottish Government: ‘Scotland possesses huge wave and tidal energy resources and the potential exists to generate more electricity than we currently need from the waters around the Scottish coast.

‘Scotland has a third of the UK’s tidal stream resources and two thirds of the UK’s wave resources. The Scottish Government believes that wave and tidal energy will make an important contribution to our future electricity needs.’