UK tidal energy company Nova Innovation has secured a deal to export 15 of its new 100kW D2T2 direct drive tidal turbines to Canada, marking the company’s first international project.
Manufacturing work has been completed on the market-ready D2T2, with the first unit to be deployed soon in the Shetland Isles, Scotland.
No more details were given on the export deal.
Nova chief executive Simon Forrest said: “We are delighted that our new turbine is now successfully complete and ready to be deployed in commercial projects around the world.”
In 2016, Nova secured €2.25m of funding from the European Commission’s SME Instrument to develop the D2T2.
The company said the D2T2 took all the lessons from Nova’s existing turbines – which have been successfully operating in Shetland for the last four years – to increase efficiency by 30% and drive down costs.
“Taking lessons from the wind industry, this was achieved by removing the need for a gearbox, significantly improving the performance and efficiency of the device,” Nova said.
“Fewer moving parts in the turbine increase its reliability and extend the period between service intervals from one year to more than two years,” it added.
Nova built the new turbine at its manufacturing facility in Edinburgh.
The device underwent testing, initially onshore at the ORE Catapult national test centre in Blyth.
Performance was independently verified by third-party industry experts, Nova said.
European Innovation Council (EIC) Taskforce director Jean-David Malo said: “We are very happy to see the excellent progress the tidal energy industry has made in recent years, with projects such as Nova Innovation’s D2T2 have helped with this by significantly reducing costs associated with the industry.
“These advances are helping to ensure tidal energy is on track to achieve the targets within the EU SET-Plan, helping the EU combat climate change and move towards being carbon neutral. A concrete contribution to the Green Deal goals.”
Forrest added: “The EIC’s programme has turbo-charged the commercialisation of Nova, helping to drive Europe’s Green Deal and blue economy.
“The ingenuity and clever simplicity of our product has helped drive down costs, making tidal energy increasingly bankable.”
The D2T2 project received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.