Turbine plan for Torr Head
Thursday, 6 November 2008
THE energy company behind a proposal to install 20 tidal turbines on the seabed off Torr Head hopes to lodge a planning application by the summer of 2009.
A consortium led by Scottish Power this week confirmed representatives have already met officials from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to discuss regulatory requirements associated with their plans for commercial power generation
“We are continuing discussions with a view to entering a planning application as soon as possible," a spokesman told The Chronicle this week.
“Once the plans are finalised we will work out the best way of deploying the turbines."
Last month Scottish Power announced its intention to install up to 60 turbines at three sites - two in Scotland's Pentland Firth, and one at Torr Head.
The energy company hopes to be generating up to 60MW of electricity by as early as 2011 - enough to power 40,000 homes.
The spokesman said surveys have been conducted all over Ireland and Scotland and Torr Head was identified as "one of the best in terms of tidal stream."
The generators work like an underwater wind turbine but with much shorter blades and a slower rotation speed. The units are mounted on the sea bed and aligned to the tidal flow. Each device will generate around 1MW of output.
According to Scottishpower all three schemes considered together amount to "the largest tidal stream project in the world."
The company expects to deploy the Lànstrøm tidal turbines developed by Hammerfest Strøm AS, a company jointly owned by ScottishPower Renewables, StatoilHydro and Hammerfest Energi.
The device's name reflects the Norwegian and Scottish collaboration - being a combination of the Gaelic 'làn' meaning 'full' and the Norwegian 'strøm' meaning 'tide'.
Keith Anderson, Director of ScottishPower Renewables, said rapid technological developments meant tidal power now had genuine potential to deliver "significant environmental and economic benefits".
He added: "Tidal power is completely renewable, being driven by the gravity of the sun and moon, with no carbon dioxide emissions, whilst being entirely predictable in nature.
“Following significant research and development in Scotland during the 70's and 80's, the opportunity associated with the manufacturing of on-shore wind turbines was not realised.
“Tidal power now provides Scotland with another chance to become the global leader in a new renewable energy industry."
The project has been backed by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond who said: "This is a very exciting development and underlines the momentum that is beginning to build within the marine renewables sector."
The Scottish Government has strongly backed the marine renewables market through support grants and a longer-term revenue support scheme.
The Scottish Government believes the country is uniquely placed to be a world leader in tidal power and the waters surrounding the Western Isles have been described as the 'Saudi Arabia of tidal power'.
Northern Ireland's Department of the Environment said fisheries officials would be involved in the consultation process and that a licence for Torr Head would be required under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 to construct or operate tidal turbines.
