Scottish Power today confirmed that it is looking at three coastal sites for the development of the world's largest tidal power project, valued at £100m.
The company said the three sites – two in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland – will each install up to 20 Lànstrøm tidal turbines that have been specially developed by Hammerfest Strøm AS, a company jointly owned by ScottishPower Renewables, StatoilHydro and Hammerfest Energi.
The rapid technological advancement of tidal power has enabled the company to accelerate its marine renewables plans, according to Keith Anderson, director of Scottish Power Renewables.
"This is a historic day for the development of marine energy," he said. " This is a substantial project which has the real potential to deliver significant environmental and economic benefits."
The units will be mounted on the sea bed and aligned to the tidal flow. Each device will generate around 1MW of output, and if 60 are installed as planned, they will generate enough energy to power 40,000 homes.
Scottish Power also proposes to build the tidal power turbines in Scotland, under plans that will see it develop a manufacturing facility capable of serving the three tidal farms and exporting turbines to other utilities carrying our similar projects.
The company said it will submit planning permission for the projects before the end of the year and hopes to have the project up and running by 2011.
Scotland first minister Alex Salmond welcomed the announcement, adding that he hoped the projects would prove a forerunner for further marine energy installations. "Scotland has a marine energy resource which is unrivalled in Europe," he said. "We have an estimated 25 per cent of Europe's tidal resource and 10 per cent of its wave potential."
Tidal power is considered one of the most reliable types of renewables for the UK, because it is not subject to the vagaries of the British weather, allowing energy companies to much more reliably predict how much energy a project will deliver compared with wind or solar projects.
The Scottish government has recently confirmed its intention to increase the incentives on offer for wave and tidal projects through the Renewable Obligation Certificates. Under the proposed changes, tidal energy project operators would be able to sell three Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) alongside the energy they produce, while wave energy projects would be able to sell five ROCs.
In related news, the UK's plans for a huge expansion in offshore wind farms moved a step forward today, after the Crown Estate announced the next stage in the bidding process for the nine packages of the sea bed that will be available to wind farm developers.
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