Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 31ST AUGUST - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2018 | 19 Operations & Assets technologies. It has a 50 per cent stake in a 4.5MW project in Canada, and contracts and project development rights in Indonesia, China and South Korea. It is also talking to the French government on the development of large-scale arrays in Normandy and Brittany. Simon Forrest, chief executive of tidal turbine developer Nova Innovation, said the UK was blessed with predictable tidal resources, and a technology development lead of at least two years on other countries. "The most galling thing is that we've got all the ace cards, and we're about to throw them all away. We did the same thing on wind energy, in which we led the world back in the 1980s. We pulled back just as the technology reached commercialisation," he recalls. Denmark took over development of the technology, and now the sector has an export value of €7.3 billion. "We effectively gave away something the size of our defence industry," he says. Renewable UK's Clark agrees that the UK could be risking a valuable opportunity. "Without a domestic market to anchor firms in the UK, there are concerns that we would start to lose out to other countries. Because this is an emerging industry, the supply chains are less fixed. Manufacturing has taken place in the UK, but when the industry starts to take off internationally and supply chains become established, that's where the danger of the UK losing out is." However, Richard Howard, head of research at Aurora, is sceptical about the export potential of marine renewable tech- nologies, given the lack of development across the globe. "Maybe once the technology is mature there might be an export market, but I'm not sure. Other countries are looking at these technologies, but in solar you see tens of gigawatts deployed every year, while in wave and tidal you see tens of megawatts. It's a different order of magnitude," he says. While he believes the government has a role to play in supporting innovation, this is getting "harder and harder to justify" for the wave and tidal sector, he believes. "The industry has been talking about the technology maturing for a long time now, but on what basis will costs come down? I don't know. "The massive success in driving down the costs of wind and solar energy means that other technology is chasing a number that's falling faster than they can keep up with," he says. "It's hard for government to make a special case for technology that is further behind," he concludes. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Several innovative renewable technologies have hit the headlines in recent years. Some are thriving, while others have failed to make it beyond research and develop- ment. Pelamis Wave Power The movement of five connected sections in the waves was harnessed by hydraulic rams at the joints, which drove electrical generators inside the 180m-long device. The company's second-generation machine was ordered by Eon in 2009. It was tested for three years in the Scottish island of Orkney. The company went into administration in November 2014. Wave Energy Scotland now owns its assets. Simec Atlantis The rotors of the 6MW MeyGen tidal stream array submerged in Scotland's Pentland Firth harness the power of the marine currents to drive generators, which in turn produce electricity. Construction and commissioning of MeyGen was completed in March 2018. It has generated over 8GWh of energy to the grid to date, and Simec Atlantis intends to install a further 392MW capacity. Scotrenewables Tidal Power The SR2000 tidal current turbine has twin turbines fixed to retractable legs mounted to a floating platform. It is in test phase at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland. The technology generated more than 3GWh of electricity in the 12 months to August 2018. Kite Power Systems (KPS) This power system features two kites that fly up to 1,500 feet in altitude. Both kites are attached by tethers to a winch system that generates electricity as it spools out. KPS is currently testing its 40kW system at West Freugh at Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. Its latest 500kW demonstration model is being manufactured and assembled in Dumfries. Minesto This company's Deep Green technology produces electricity by sweeping a turbine across a large area of the sea, at a speed several times the actual speed of the under- water current. Five prototypes have been built and tested, with the first electricity produced in 2009. A prototype has been undergoing testing in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough. The company is to continue testing, while in parallel building and commissioning the first commercial scale 0.5MW project in Holyhead Deep, Wales. This will be expanded to a 10MW array, with a long-term plan for 80MW of installed capacity at the site.

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