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A Glasgow-based renewables company has launched its first commercial scale tidal energy turbine, in a major milestone for the technology’s development.
The “Cormat” device, with a 10 metre wide rotor blade, is being put to the test at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney this week.
Nautricity, a spin-out company from Strathclyde University, boasts of being the first in the UK to deploy a full scale model in real life conditions. That brings it a step closer to full commercial deployment.
Cameron Johnstone, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said: “Once we have demonstrated the technology here and shown that it can provide affordable electricity, we will then build out to multi-megawatt arrays at home and overseas. In order to be able to compete abroad in the future, it’s essential that we have a robust, indigenous market from which to launch our international business development.”
“We believe we are doing all of the right things in developing lower cost, next-generation technology, through our progressive testing program and gathering the data to ensure that we are taking to market a product that works and can compete with other forms of energy generation.”
The turbine is tethered to the seabed and floats below the water’s surface, in an arrangement Nautricity says allows it to capture maximum energy from the tidal flow. A “Hydrobuoy”, developed with the help of a £250,000 Smart Scotland grant, holds it steady in strong currents.
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