Top news, July 9 – 15, 2018

MarineEnergy.biz has compiled the top news from marine energy industry from July 9 – 15, 2018.

Generator fault prompts MeyGen tidal retrieval

SIMEC Atlantis Energy has announced plans to retrieve two of the four installed MeyGen tidal turbines following diagnosis of a generator fault by the onboard monitoring systems.

The project operators plan to retrieve two of the Andritz Hammerfest Hydro (AHH) turbines during this month for inspection and maintenance by the turbine supplier, SIMEC Atlantis informed.

The turbines, both of which are covered under warranty, will be inspected onshore and, subject to confirmation of the fault diagnosis, the repairs are expected to be completed within approximately two months.

PLAT-I nears Canadian destination

Sustainable Marine Energy’s PLAT-I tidal energy platform is currently sailing across the Atlantic towards Canada where it will be deployed in the area boasting the world’s most extreme tides – the Bay of Fundy.

The disassembled platform, which has been broken down into road-transportable modules, left the Port of Liverpool on the Atlantic Sky container ship bound for Province of Nova Scotia.

The Atlantic Sky is set to arrive to Halifax at 5 pm on July 15, 2018, according to the information provided by VesselFinder.

Tidal ‘old lady’ still powers third of Guernsey island

Operating for over 50 years, the Rance tidal power plant – located in the estuary of the Rance River in France – has in 2017 supplied close to third of total energy consumed by the island of Guernsey’s residents.

Built in 1966 as the world’s first tidal power station, the Rance Tidal Power Station operates by using the barrage to build up a reservoir to create a difference in the height levels of water, in order to release it twice a day through 24 turbines.

Through an agreement with EDF, the sole commercial electricity supplier on Guernsey island – Guernsey Electricity – has been using the clean electricity produced by the Rance tidal plant delivered to the island through a 60MW subsea cable.

According to the utility, the electricity delivered via the cable has in 2017 met 86% of the island’s electricity demand – with 53% coming from nuclear sources, and 33% from the tidal barrage on river Rance.

The remaining electricity was generated on island, Guernsey Electricity said.

DesignPro device optimization pushes back SEENEOH splash

Irish company DesignPro Renewables has rescheduled the deployment of its device at the French testing site SEENEOH to accommodate additional improvements on the device expected to be completed before fall this year.

The company will now install the 25kW device at the site in the French city of Bordeaux in September 2018, as opposed to the previously planned installation that was set for March.

The extra time, according to design DesignPro, will be spent on the optimization of the device and deployment plans.

Ocean current turbine demo scores more

A small-scale tidal current turbine demonstrator – being developed by Spanish Seaplace and UK’s Magnomatics – has achieved one third more efficiency during testing than had been previously predicted.

A 6kW turbine demonstrator, with rotational speeds of up to 120 ppm, was recently tested at a facility in Madrid, where it achieved better results than anticipated, the developers said.

The project is looking to harness the power of sea currents as an alternative energy source by designing a turbine with pseudo direct drive (PDD) technology to deliver high torque, low speed power for the machine.