Nova Innovation has been given the green light by the European Commission to proceed to the next stage of its €20m tidal project off Shetland in Scotland.
Brussels issued approval to the Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal (EnFAIT) project in the Bluemull Sound following a so-called go/no go gateway review by three independent technical experts.
The Edinburgh developer said the panel confirmed the project consisting of six M100 turbines each rated at 100kW had progressed as planned after 12 months of design development and operations.
The EnFAIT scheme involves extending the existing three-turbine installation to six machines and demonstrating tidal array reliability and availability.
Nova said over the past year it had improved performance data collection from the existing three turbines, stepped up tidal resource monitoring of the site and gained the necessary site consents for the expansion to six turbines.
The company has also developed and verified detailed designs for the new turbines and their subsea connections.
“We’ve made significant progress in year one putting in place the project’s operational and technical foundations, and we are extremely excited to be moving into the next stages focusing on scaling up and optimising the array configuration,” said Nova chief executive Simon Forrest.
The EnFAIT project is due to run until 2022.
Image: M100 tidal turbine (Nova Innovation)
Brussels green light for Nova
By EBS