Welsh marine developer Tidal Energy Limited has deployed its 400kW prototype Deltastream device in Pembrokeshire’s Ramsey Sound more than a year after a cashflow crisis stalled installation.
On Saturday, the Deltastream tidal turbine device was loaded off the quayside in Pembroke Port, where it had been sat since last October, by the offshore construction vessel Siem Daya 1. It then made the short passage to Ramsey Sound for installation during Sunday’s suitable tidal window.
Weighing 200 tonnes, with a 16-metres long frame and height of 18 metres, the demonstration device has a gravity-based foundation sitting atop the seabed under its own weight, without the need to drill or pile the structure into the seabed.
After initial testing and commissioning of the device in the next few days, DeltaStream will gather data relating to its electricity generating performance and environmental impact over the coming months. TEL intends to recover the device for inspection and upgrade work next year.
The Cardiff-based company has also repaired the project’s damaged export cable installed last summer. A survey found the cable had exceeded its minimum bending radius.
TEL director Martin Murphy said: “The deployment of DeltaStream marks a significant achievement for the original inventor of the device, Richard Ayre, and for our team, our shareholders, Wales and the wider tidal industry.
“We are immensely proud to be one of the frontrunners of tidal energy development in this nascent industry, which has great and far-reaching potential for green energy production.”
TEL secured additional funding from majority shareholder Eco2 Ltd, also based in Cardiff.
Eco2 chief executive David Williams said: “There is great potential here and we look forward to demonstrating the viability of our technology and developing our commercial scale demonstration project at St Davids Head.”
The site at St Davids Head in Pembrokeshire is two miles north of Ramsey Sound and is being developed by Eco2 in partnership with TEL. This will involve up to nine DeltaStream devices being deployed.
Image: Deltastream device deployed in Ramsey Sound (Mighty Sky Film)
