SME Sets Up Rock Anchors for Its PLAT-O Tidal Energy Project

Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) has completed installation of four subsea drilled rock anchors at its berth at the European Marine Energy Centre.

The anchors will be used to moor its PLAT-O tidal energy platform which will be deployed at EMEC.

The anchoring remotely operated vehicle (AROV), which was used for the installation, has been developed in-house at SME over the past 3 years. Marine operations were performed from Leask Marine’s multicat C-Salvor.

The 3.5m length anchors have a nominal holding capacity of 100t dependent on the type of the rock. In addition, SME said it is now working to develop a range of anchors with even greater holding capacity and suitable for a range of substrates.

“This is a very exciting time for SME” said David Stoddart-Scott, head of project development. “Not only are we making great progress with the PLAT-O platform, but we are also developing subsea anchoring solutions. We will be offering these to the marine industry as a whole. Whilst we will be busy deploying anchors for our own projects, we have also had a number of enquiries from a range of companies who are looking to benefit from our innovative technology. We are in the early stages, but substantial cost savings over conventional gravity anchors are possible. We think this will be a tempting prospect to the marine energy and aquaculture industries. We expect to perform our first customer deployment for a wave energy developer later this year.”