Flow of energy

Tidal stream power station planned “out west”

A multi-million pound tidal turbine plant could be coming to a coast near you. The companies behind it, E.ON and Lunar Energy, hope to have their innovative power scheme making energy off the UK’s west coast by 2010 – though the location won’t be revealed until they’re ready to make a planning application.

If they don’t get overtaken by other schemes, this could be the largest tidal stream project of its kind in the world, capable of generating 8MW of electricity. That’s as much as three or four large wind turbines. And it won’t be one of those controversial tidal barrages gumming up a river estuary. Instead it will use an array of up to eight hidden turbines on the seabed [right] to capture the power from tidal streams – fast flowing volumes of water created by the motion of the tide.

Marine Current Turbines is planning a similar-sized project on the same timescale, based on the SeaGen prototype it plans to put into Strangford Lough this summer. – Hannah Bullock

24 June 2007

Hannah Bullock