Hammerfest Strom UK has already completed the design and pre-engineering and is now tendering for fabrication and installation. After a test period, the company will work with ScottishPower Renewables who have plans to install the device as part of a 10MW tidal power array in the Sound of Islay by 2012.
The HS1000 device is designed based on a 300kW prototype, which has been installed in Kvalsundet in Norway for the last six years. Recently re-installed in Kvalsundet, the turbine is going through a second test period, where it continues to produce electricity for the Norwegian grid and is monitored to detect further improvements in technology that can be applied to future generations of the turbine.
Keith Anderson, director of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “We firmly believe that the tidal turbine developed by Hammerfest Strøm is the most advanced and rigorously tested device anywhere in the world. The grant from the Carbon Trust will enable the first deployment of the turbine in Scottish waters, where we have ambitious plans to further utilise the device at a number of locations to take advantage of the fantastic tidal resources that Scotland has to offer.
“Scotland is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy potential, and tidal offers perhaps the greatest source of power. The deployment of the HS1000 device is a major milestone in Scotland’s ambitions to tap-in to this new source of energy.”
