Schottel Hydro sells 16 turbines to Sustainable Marine Energy

Schottel Hydro will deliver 16 Schottel Instream Turbines (SIT) with a capacity of 62 kW each to the Isle of Wight-based enigneering company Sustainable Marine Energy (SME).

The turbines will be delivered over the course of two years. The scope of supply also includes the power electrics for the turbines and the interface management between turbines and platform, according to Schottel Hydro.

To remind, SME signed a long term testing contract with EMEC last year to deploy five PLAT-O systems in an array over the next two years.

Following the successful sea trials in the Solent in summer 2015, the first PLAT-O system, which hosts two SITs, will be installed at EMEC in 2016.

The next generation PLAT-O system will be large enough to host four turbines each, according to Schottel Hydro, and four of these platforms will be deployed in 2016/2017 to complete the array.

The installed power output of the array will be 1 MW and will be fed into the Scottish power grid.

Niels Lange, Managing Director of Schottel Hydro, said: “With this system we offer SME a simple ‘plug and play’ solution for their PLAT-O platforms. We are very proud to be part of this project with 16 SIT turbines sold. The PLAT-O system provides Schottel Hydro with a route to market and we expect to deliver many more SITs to SME for these systems in the near future.”

Jason Hayman, Managing Director of SME, added: “This multi turbine array will prove that tidal energy devices can be installed in a low cost manner and operated profitably over the long term. Commercially viable tidal energy has arrived with this integrated solution from SME and Schottel Hydro.”

SME’s PLAT-O tidal platform is the buoyant platform that is taut moored to the seabed using an anchoring solution.

The platform can be moored to rock, shingle and sand, and in variable sea depths. The number of turbines that can be mounted on the platform is flexible.

Schottel Hydro’s SITs have a rotor diameter of four meters and are designed as downstream turbines which are self-aligning to the flow.

The SIT design features hydrodynamically optimized passive-adaptive composite blades with no need for any active pitch mechanism, according to Schottel Hydro. Their drive trains are standardized with a two-stage planetary gearbox, an induction generator and a mechanical brake.

Schottel Hydro, a German-based company, offers services in three segments: hydrokinetic turbines, semi-submerged platforms, and components such as turbine hubs and drives.