AR1000 Atlantis Resources 1MW device
Two tidal energy and two wave power developers have entered the race for Scotland's £10 million Saltire Prize as the competition's Grand Challenge phase begins. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed senior representatives of the four teams to a Grand Challenge launch event in Orkney, where MeyGen was unveiled as the fourth Saltire Prize competitor, joining Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power, and ScottishPower Renewables — a Spanish Iberdrola Group subsidiary. Sadly, the Nova Innovation tidal turbine Nova-30 for Shetland's island of Yell's community owned scheme will miss out, as its full commissioning is only set for early 2013. Three of the competing projects will locate in the Pentland Firth & Orkney waters — MeyGen's tidal energy project in the Inner Sound, Pelamis' wave power device at Farr Point, and ScottishPower Renewables at Ness of Duncansby with the HS1000 tidal turbine developed by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest. Aquamarine's Saltire Prize project will see its Oyster wave-energy converter deployed off the Isle of Lewis.
Aquamarine Power's Oyster wave-power technology captures energy in near-shore waves and converts it into clean sustainable electricity. Essentially, Oyster is a wave-powered pump which pushes high pressure water to drive an onshore hydroelectric turbine. The company is working on wave-energy projects on Orkney and Lewis. The MeyGen project is the largest tidal-energy development in Europe to seek consent to build from a government. The project is located in the Inner Sound in the Pentland Firth off the northern coast of Caithness, which is home to one of Europe's largest tidal stream resources. MeyGen plans to build the project in two phases. The first phase will ultimately aim to produce 86 MW. As part of the first phase it is hoped that MeyGen will start construction of an initial array of approximately six tidal turbines in 2014.
The Pelamis is an offshore wave energy converter that uses the motion of waves to generate electricity. Designed, assembled, and operated by Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power, Pelamis wave-energy converters are typically installed 2 to 10 km from the coast, in water depths greater than 50 m. These 750 kW machines are currently being demonstrated at EMEC (European Marine Energy Centre) in Orkney. Pelamis Wave Power is developing a number of projects in Scottish waters, including the Farr Point wave farm, for which they are an official Saltire Prize Competitor. ScottishPower Renewables is investigating the potential for a tidal-energy project located at the Ness of Duncansby. The site is anticipated to be capable of generating up to 95 MW of clean power. The device is the HS1000 tidal turbine developed by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest in partnership with ScottishPower Renewables.
Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon said, "With the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney hosting an array of devices, we should not lose sight of how far this vibrant young industry has come in recent years. Lease agreements, including up to 1.6 GW of installed marine energy generating capacity in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters, are now in place, major power and engineering conglomerates are investing in various wave and tidal energy technologies and no fewer than 11 devices have been deployed or are in the process of deployment at EMEC, with 14 due there by 2014." Ms Sturgeon also announced a Saltire Prize-sponsored doctorate to study how marine energy projects can be designed to maximise economic energy production while protecting the environment. The largest renewables innovation award of its kind, the Saltire Prize will be won by the team that achieves the greatest volume of electrical output in Scottish waters over the minimum of 100 GWh over a continuous two-year period, using only sea power. MeyGen CEO Dan Pearson said, "The bar set by the Scottish Government for this prestigious award is a high one. The challenge requires highly efficient devices, and a high level of resource and robust technical capability that is comparable to conventional renewable energy power stations." Martin McAdam CEO Aquamarine Power noted, "The Saltire Prize will act as global catalyst, galvanising the interest of innovators, entrepreneurs, governments, and philanthropists from around the world — bringing together the best brains and financial muscle to crack one of the great challenges of our age." "Pelamis was delighted to be the first official applicant for the Saltire Prize and we're working intensively to deliver the robust commercial technology required to win it, and through that the compelling win-win of renewable-energy generation and industrial opportunity that this sector represents for Scotland," says Per Hornung Pedersen, Pelamis Wave Power CEO. ScottishPower Renewables Head of Innovation Alan Mortimer commented, "We believe that power from wave and tidal schemes will be a major contributor to Scotland's electricity needs in the coming years, and the demonstration projects being developed now will be crucial in helping us achieve larger commercial projects. Our tidal partner Andritz Hydro Hammerfest has recently installed a test device at EMEC which is performing well, and our planned tidal power project in Islay will be potentially the first of its kind in the world." Concluding, Terry Garcia, executive VP of the National Geographic Society and Saltire Prize Challenge Committee chair said "International interest in wave and tidal energy will only intensify as the Saltire Prize competitors strive to be first to succeed in meeting the Grand Challenge." MeyGen Aquamarine Power Pelamis Wave Power ScottishPower Renewables
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