Pulse Tidal debuts shallow water generator

Pulse Tidal's shallow water generator can produce enough energy for 70 homes

In what is turning out to be something of a bumper week for the UK's marine energy sector, Yorkshire-based Pulse Tidal yesterday announced that it has successfully deployed a test version of its tidal generator in the Humber estuary, capable of providing enough energy to power 70 homes.

The company said the device – which was installed on the same day as energy giant Scottish Power announced plans to invest £100m in three tidal energy farms off the coasts of Scotland and Northern Ireland – will provide power direct to the Millennium Inorganic Chemicals plant on the south bank of the Humber and represents the first tidal generator in the world to deliver power straight to a commercial customer.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Howard Nimmo, director at the company, said that the device will operate in waters of just five metres in depth and has been specifically designed to operate in shallow waters where tidal streams tend to be at their fastest.

"We believe that one of the advantages we have over some of the other tidal technologies being developed is that shallow water technologies are ideally placed to feed directly into large scale industrial facilities, which are often located on the banks of estuaries," he explained.

Pulse Tidal's generator differs from conventional tidal turbine designs because it is based on horizontal moving foils or fins, as opposed to windmill-style rotor blades. Consequently, the area of water it draws power from can be maximised in relatively shallow water simply by extending the length of the fins.

Nimmo said that the company is now working on a commercial scale generator capable of producing more than a Megawatt of power and aims to have its first 1MW system in the water within two years.

He also welcomed the announcement from Scottish Power that it plans to build the world's largest tidal power farm, capable of producing enough energy for 40,000 homes. But he warned that similar scale projects in other areas of the UK would be hampered by the Westminster government's failure to offer as generous incentives as those available in Scotland.

"It is worth noting that the Scottish government's approach is more supportive than that of the Westminster government," he said. "There is plenty more that needs to be done to really put UK marine power on the map."