Top news, May 30 – Jun 5, 2016

Tidal Energy Today has compiled the top news from tidal and wave energy industry from May 30 – June 5, 2016.

Tidal array at Paimpol-Bréhat fully deployed

The second turbine for EDF’s Paimpol-Bréhat tidal array has been successfully deployed by OpenHydro. It will operate at a depth of 40 metres below the surface – close to the first 16 metre turbine which was deployed in January. Over the summer, the array will be connected to a subsea converter, and later export 1 MW of energy to the French electrical grid.

Cape Sharp Tidal holds up turbine deployment

Cape Sharp Tidal has decided to push back the deployment plans for the first 2 MW OpenHydro tidal turbine, expected to take place at the end of the month, to conduct more consultations with the fishermen who voiced their concerns on the environmental impacts the turbines could potentially have on the fish in the Bay of Fundy.

Morlais tidal energy scheme moves forward

Menter Môn, the third-party manager for the Morlais tidal energy project, has hired Royal HaskoningDHV and MarineSpace to conduct environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Morlais Tidal Energy Demonstration Zone off Anglesey, Wales. Under the contract, which marks the start of the next phase of the project, the two consultancies will also provide consenting support for the zone where 12 developers are bidding for space within the zone.

OPT strikes lease deal with Mitsui

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has entered into PB3 PowerBuoy lease agreement with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding. Under the $975,000 million contract, OPT will lease its PB3 PowerBuoy planned for deployment off Kozu island, Japan, following a stage gate review. OPT will also provide engineering support, deployment planning and logistics and ocean performance data collection and analysis.

FORCE bags funding for research and monitoring

The Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) has been awarded C$835,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to strengthen its research and monitoring efforts. The funding supports fish and mammal hydro-acoustic sensor research, monitoring equipment, and data collection, as well as underwater monitoring platform deployment and recovery.

Tidal Energy Today