In a move to start site preparation work for their optimised 2MW floating tidal turbine, Scotrenewables Tidal Power have started work to remove the SR2000 turbine from its test berth at EMEC. The SR2000's withdrawal from service at EMEC follows a record breaking year of testing which saw it generate in excess of 3GWh of renewable electricity.
CEO Andrew Scott said: "The last 12 months have provided unrivalled validation of our engineering and, more importantly, our low cost, low risk solution for tidal stream energy. Our priority now is to ensure we build on this success with the delivery of our next generation turbine, which is supported by EU Horizon2020 funding under the FloTEC project. Having completed the engineering designs for the SR2-2000, we are now preparing for the build and installation phase - this will see the new, optimised unit installed at EMEC. As such, we need to start preparing the site for that installation and concentrate our resources on the build." The new SR2-2000 is scheduled to be launched next year and deployed in the early part of 2020.
Commenting on the future of the SR2000, Andrew Scott said: "We are immensely proud of what the SR2000 has achieved in its first year of near-continuous operation, having broken all previous records. Its exceptional performance has been widely acknowledged, and we are now in discussions with a number of interested parties on the potential to re-deploy the turbine at other sites internationally."
Media contacts at Scotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd:
James Murray, Business Development Manager: 01856 851641 / james@scotrenewables.com
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications: 020 8392 8250 / paul@taylorkeogh.com
For Scottish media enquiries, David Budge: 0141 249 0396 / david.budge@budgepr.com
ABOUT SCOTRENEWABLES TIDAL POWER (www.scotrenewables.com)
- Scotrenewables Tidal Power Limited is an innovative Scottish engineering company focused on the development of a tidal energy turbine technology with the potential to produce a step-change reduction in the cost of energy from tidal currents.The company's novel floating technology offers a low cost solution for simplified and safe manufacture, installation, access and maintenance along with the ability to use low cost, small workboats for all offshore operations. The company currently employs 26 staff with offices in Orkney and Edinburgh.
- The technology has been under continuous engineering development, including rigorous testing of scaled systems in both tank conditions and open ocean environments, since the company was founded in Orkney in 2002.In 2012 the company achieved a world's first when it exported power to the UK grid from its 250kW floating scale model.
- The SR2000 was launched from Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipyard in May 2016 before being towed to Orkney.
- The SR2000 project has been supported by Scottish Enterprise's WATERS II scheme along with investments from Scotrenewables' shareholders which include ABB, DP Energy, Fred Olsen, Total and Scottish Government via the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF). The testing programme at EMEC is supported via the FORESEA Interreg-NWE funded project.
- Scotrenewables has been selected by the European Commission to lead on the engineering and delivery of an optimised model of the SR2000 machine, the SR2-2000. Leveraging £7m Horizon 2020 funding Scotrenewables is lead an industrial consortium to optimise the SR2000 under the "FloTEC" project.
