SeaGen gets Bristol factory

Tidal turbine aims for first commercial operation in 2015

Siemens has opened the Bristol site that will assemble the drive trains for its 2MW SeaGen tidal turbine.

The SeaGen is one of the first tidal turbines in the world to be fully tested in the water and commercially marketed. The first SeaGens are planned to be installed in a 10MW array off the Anglesey coast near Holyhead by 2015. The “Skerries” project has been approved by the Welsh government and is so far funded by £10 million from the UK government.

Achim Wörner, chief executive of Siemens Energy Hydro and Ocean Unit said the company was planning the SeaGen for “full-scale commercialisation and wider deployment”. “Investment in the new assembly and testing facility in Bristol will enable us to make the step to develop next-generation tidal technology as well as larger arrays,” he added.

According to Siemens, the Bristol site is the first of its kind in the UK and will assemble and test the drive trains — although full system testing will be completed at Narec in Northumberland before installation at North Wales.

The Bristol-based company which developed SeaGen for 12 years, Marine Current Turbines, was purchased by Siemens in February 2012. The move was widely seen as a promising backing of the technology, which uses axial flow rotors driven by tidal flows to drive a generator via a gearbox.

Other features include the ability to control the pitch and position of the rotors to optimise energy harvesting and minimise impact on the structure. The structure is also designed so that the entire turbine can be raised out of the water for ease of maintenance.

MCT has been running a 1.2MW commercial prototype of SeaGen in Strangford Lough in the Irish Sea since April 2008. The prototype was the first tidal turbine to successfully supply electricity to the grid onshore.

The company also plans to install four SeaGens in an array between the Isle of Skye and the West Coast of Scotland by 2016. However, this project is still pending approval by the Scottish government. The turbines will be operated in each location for 25 years in order for them to serve as a test case for the construction of more larger arrays of SeaGens.