Top news, October 22 – 28, 2018

MarineEnergy.biz has compiled the top news from marine energy industry from October 22 – 28, 2018.

Swansea Council decides to build Swansea Bay tidal lagoon

Swansea Council has decided to move forward with the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project. Swansea Bay City Region has issued a Prior Invitation Notice (PIN) to gauge the interest from the private sector, as it concluded that the development of a tidal lagoon needs to be led by the private sector and without the reliance on government or local government subsidy.

The conclusion, as well as the PIN, are a result of a three-month re-evaluation of the project and investigation of alternative options for its delivery, which was done by a taskforce set up by Swansea Bay City Region.

Video: C3 WEC – a machine doing what it is supposed to do

“We can now confidently say that the machine is doing what it is supposed to do,” Patrik Möller, CEO at CorPower Ocean, is heard as saying at the beginning of the video (see below). The company completed the demonstration of its of C3 wave energy converter earlier in October.

The wave energy converter underwent 18 months of combined dry and ocean testing to prove its mettle, especially in two areas that are major challenges for wave energy – storm survivability and significant power production.

MeyGen breaks ground with first offshore turbine servicing

Two Andritz Hydro Hammerfest (AHH) 1.5MW turbines that are part of the MeyGen array had been serviced and returned to their offshore home, where they recommenced generation at full capacity, SIMEC Atlantis Energy informed on October 22.

According to the company, this represents world first handling and servicing of multiple turbines simultaneously on one vessel, as well as the retrieval, service and reinstallation of a turbine onboard a vessel without returning to a port. The offshore maintenance operations, carried out by Atlantis Operations UK, were completed within 30 hours.

Nova Innovation scoops European Commission’s business award

Edinburgh-based tidal energy company Nova Innovation has won the European Commission’s Enterprise Europe Network Award 2018, announced in Vienna on October 24.

The company won the award for its development and expansion of the offshore tidal array in Bluemull Sound in Shetland.

Nova Innovation has worked on the Shetland projects with Belgian partner IDETA for the past five years: a pan-European collaboration brokered by the Enterprise Europe Network.

SIMEC Atlantis appoints Chief Operating Officer

SIMEC Atlantis Energy, the global developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy projects, has appointed Andy Richardson to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Richardson work experience includes roles as Head of Asset Management and Engineering Manager at Alstom Power Service UK, and Director Thermal Generation at EDF.