Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
The approval of the largest inter-nation tidal energy project shows the sector is ready for commercialisation, one of the key figures behind the project claims.
The Tidal Stream Industry Energiser Project (TIGER) will enable up to 8MW of tidal capacity installed between the UK and France.
Simon Cheeseman, sector lead for wave and tidal energy at Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, which is coordinating the project, told Utility Week the initial phase of the project involves 2.8MW of turbines installed at five sites with the potential to deploy a further 5MW.
The UK sites are at Ramsey Sound in Pembrokeshire, on the site of a previous turbine and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, which will host two small installations. In France the installations will be at Paimpol–Bréhat in Brittany, Le Raz Blanchard off the coast of Normandy and Morbihan in Brittany.
The project is due to be completed by March 2023 with turbines expected to be installed at the five sites from 2020.
Cheeseman said: “The project is going to demonstrate that the tidal sector has reached an important point of maturity; it’s right on the edge of being ready to commercialise.
“TIGER will demonstrate the sector can work together across borders – between UK and France; it’s going to be important for how to galvanise the supply chain to support tidal in terms of cost reduction, economies of scale and manufacturability.
“TIGER has got a very strong societal role to educate people about tidal energy, what is tidal stream and how it differs from tidal range, wave energy and why it is important to have tidal as a part of the future renewable energy mix.
“TIGER can show the benefits of making use of this incredible resource that we’ve got naturally for free all around the UK.”
Funding for the €46.8 million project comes in part from Interreg France (Channel) England Programme, which is an EU initiative providing funding for sustainable projects in northern France and southern UK.
An objective of the TIGER project is to drive growth of tidal stream energy and develop related products and services as well as driving generation costs down through economies of scale.
Carolyn Reid, programme manager for Interreg France (Channel) England Programme, explained the project supports the long-term aim of reducing generation costs of tidal stream energy from the existing 300€ MW/h to 150€ MW/h by 2025 and increase uptake. Beyond that goal, the EU has set a target to reach 100€/MWh by 2030. There is a potential of 4GW of tidal energy capacity in the Channel region.
Dr Stephen Wyatt, R&I director for ORE Catapult, said: “We are delighted to be spearheading this game-changing tidal energy project. Developing successful UK and European collaborations is important for the UK tidal energy industry and will help accelerate the economic, environmental and societal benefits which can be derived from this emerging sector.”
There are 75 EU-funded Interreg programmes in the current programming period 2014-2020. These must meet qualifying criteria around sustainability and innovation.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.