Schottel Hydro had previously partnered with SME and Black Rock Tidal Power for the development of PLAT-I floating tidal energy system, to be deployed in Scotland and in Canada.
As part of this merger, Schottel has transferred all its tidal energy assets, including UK subsidiary TidalStream and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power (BRTP), to SME in return for equity, becoming SME’s largest shareholder. BRTP’s name has been changed to Sustainable Marine Energy (Canada).
SME aims to commercialize the tidal turbine technology developed by Schottel, in-conjunction with its platform and anchoring solutions to provide an integrated solution to the market.
The company will also continue to develop projects in Nova Scotia, Canada, including the 5MW berth at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) that was awarded to Schottel in 2014.
Schottel Group CEO Andreas Block said: “Schottel has been active in developing tidal energy solutions since 2011. Following a comprehensive, strategic business and technology review, we believe that SME is best placed to deliver commercially viable tidal energy systems to the market.
“The SME team has proven that they can deliver, and the PLAT-I deployment at Grand Passage will demonstrate that tidal energy is a viable option for coastal and island communities.
“Schottel is committed to developing environmentally responsible marine technologies including tidal energy and electric propulsion systems – we are also supplying propulsion systems for the first fully-electric ferries in Canada. We look forward to working with SME over the coming years to deliver innovative, robust and reliable solutions to customers worldwide.”
Schottel claims that its expertise in delivering power-take-off systems, when combined with SME’s expertise on platforms, anchoring and marine operations provides a fully integrated tidal energy solution.
SME will focus on improving the floating PLAT-I tidal energy system, equipped with SIT250 tidal turbines that is currently installed in Grand Passage, Nova Scotia, as a precursor to commencing the build out of its project at FORCE.
The first PLAT-I platform was developed and tested in Scotland, with support from the Scottish Enterprise under the WATERS3 programme.
