Marine Current Turbines: Moving From Experimental Test Rigs to a Commercial Technology

This presentation will discuss the background to the development of Marine Current Turbines Ltd’s pioneering technology for the exploitation of tidal stream energy. This will include details of: • the 1994, 15kW Loch Linnhe “Proof of Concept” Project, and earlier work, • the 300kW 2003 Seaflow Project, • the present 1.2MW Seagen Commercial Demonstrator Project, • future plans for scaled up “Second Generation” technology to follow Seagen. The paper will then give the rationale and an outline of the essential features of MCT’s technology and an overview of the predicted performance and economics of the planned commercial technology together with an indication of MCT’s time-line for its development. The discussion will cover nontechnical issues such as consent requirements (and environmental impact issues) and an outline of MCT’s Business Plan and how it is to be implemented.Copyright © 2007 by ASME