Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (PTEC) has announced its major partnerships with global tidal turbine manufacturers, SCHOTTEL HYDRO GmbH and TOCARDO Tidal Turbines. The transformational tidal energy generation project, having achieved all key project consents earlier this year and with a signed grid connection offer, is now a step further towards delivery with full operations to commence from 2020.

The 30MW project, to be created off the Isle of Wight, will allow long-term operation of SCHOTTEL HYDRO and TOCARDO turbine arrays, simultaneously optimising their performance and delivering reliable electricity to the grid. PTEC is also expected to create and safeguard hundreds of jobs and attract significant investment into the local economy, building on the success of the existing British marine and offshore wind sectors.

Project Director, Mark Francis says, “We are very pleased to announce that TOCARDO and SCHOTTEL HYDRO are partnering with us to deliver 30MW of predictable electricity generated from the tidal currents to the south of the Isle of Wight. This is a major milestone for the project, which is of strategic importance to the UK’s tidal industry and will accelerate the growth of the sector as well as enable a continued cost reduction path for future tidal stream projects. Working with world leading and state-of-the-art turbine manufacturers under our unique project structure will be the key to our success. We are currently working with SCHOTTEL HYDRO and TOCARDO to identify the optimal site layout and designs, taking into consideration the outputs of our Environmental Impact Assessment and consented envelope. These decisions will be finalised in due course, with onshore construction scheduled to begin next year.”

Niels A. Lange, MD from SCHOTTEL HYDRO says, “It is a privilege to be part of the largest consented tidal stream energy project in England and Wales. We are excited to join such a ground-breaking development and world-class team and look forward to seeing PTEC drive the development of tidal power both in the Solent area and, indeed, worldwide.

We will be spearheading this development through our UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd., which has been active in this industry for over five years. One of the benefits of our TRITON platform technology is the maximising of local manufactured content. For our demonstrator in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia - due to be installed next year - the local content will be in the order of 75%, bringing manufacturing jobs and benefits to the local community. We are constantly seeking ways to advance our technology and ensure it is fully commercialised for worldwide production. PTEC is the perfect opportunity for us to achieve this.”

Hans van Breugel, CEO of TOCARDO, says, “Engaging with PTEC is a significant step in the commercialisation process of TOCARDO’s standard offshore tidal solution, the UFS. After having deployed our turbines at various sites in the Netherlands and operating these projects successfully, we feel confident to jointly realise this world leading multi-MW tidal energy farm at the Isle of Wight. PTEC follow a thorough step-by-step process towards successful project deployment, just like TOCARDO does in product development, and we are proud to have been selected.”

Tags: Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (PTEC), SCHOTTEL HYDRO GmbH, Tocardo Tidal Turbines