Weekly Intelligence Brief

Commercial scale tidal energy comes of age in NW Europe

8 May 2008

Two new tidal energy schemes in Wales and Northern Ireland will showcase a novel technology that is being seen by many as the way forward for this form of renewable energy generation. Sean Ottewell reports

Plans to install the world's first commercial scale tidal energy system in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough have been published by English tidal energy company Marine Current Turbines (MCT).

The company is targeting the installation of its 1.2MW SeaGen tidal system for the first quarter of 2008. When fully deployed in the Lough and connected to the local grid, the system will generate enough electricity for 1000 homes.

At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen is the world’s largest tidal current device by a significant margin and is considered a prototype for commercial technology that will be replicated on a large scale over the next few years.