Marine Current Turbines Ltd, the global leader in tidal stream technology, has successfully completed the installation of its 1.2MW SeaGen tidal energy system in Strangford Narrows in Northern Ireland. There will now be a 12-week period of commissioning and testing before it starts regularly feeding power into the Northern Ireland grid.

The last time I wrote about the SeaGen project I got more than a couple of emails from friends and readers who were skeptical about the claims that the 16 meter-long turbine blades spinning on these machines could be environmentally benign (watch an animation of the turbines in action). Although I have yet to read over the reports, it is my impression that researchers have no indication that the turbines would be harmful to marine life (you may register to download the reports here).The final Environmental Impact Study was submitted to the regulatory authority, the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) in Northern Ireland in June 2005 and the license for the temporary installation for the SeaGen system for a five year duration was first issued in December 2005.

The project is being managed by Royal Haskoning with Queens University Belfast and the Sea Mammal Research Unit. Researchers will be adopting an approach commonly referred to as 'adaptive management', whereby, the environmental impact of SeaGen will be continuously monitored by the team throughout the licensed 5 year installation period. It seems to me that the SeaGen could be a very expensive test run, if it turns out the turbines are indeed ecologically problematic.


Related Posts:

"World's First Commercial-Scale Tidal Power Turbines"
"Animation: SeaGen Tidal Power Turbine"


[Photos are courtesy of Taylor Keough Communications, please contact me via email if you'd like larger/higher res. and I will pass them along].




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