A Scotland-based utility has secured government approval to build a 10-MW demonstration marine power farm that will use a novel turbine to harness the kinetic energy of tidal streams. Installation of the 10 units off Scotland’s west coast is scheduled to start in 2013, following prototype testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney starting at the end of this year.
The $66-million project will be “a world’s first for an array of tidal power machines,” claims Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower Renewables Ltd., Glasgow, which owns the development. The project will be big enough to supply twice the heating demand of residents of nearby Islay Island. ScottishPower says it has a contract to supply energy to the island’s whiskey distillers, too.