The most powerful tidal turbine in the world, with a nominal power of 2 MW, was put into operation and began to generate energy connected to the electricity grid in the United Kingdom, according to Orbital Marine Power, a Scottish company that developed the equipment. It is anchored in the waters of the Orkney Islands and is connected by submarine cables to the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC), located in this British archipelago.
The 680-ton facility, dubbed ‘O2’, is expected to operate for the next 15 years and be able to meet the annual electricity demand of some 2,000 homes in the country with “clean and predictable energy” from fast water, offsetting approximately 2,200 tons of CO2 production per year. In addition, it will supply energy to EMEC’s land-based electrolyzer to generate green hydrogen.
The CEO of the company, Andrew Scott, stressed that “this is an important milestone for O2” and declared that “this pioneering renewable energy project” was carried out “safely and successfully”. “Our vision is that this project will be the trigger for the use of tidal current resources around the world, to play a role in the fight against climate change and at the same time create a new industrial sector with low carbon emissions” added.
How does it work?
The O2 has a 74 meter long hull structure with two 1 MW power generating nacelles at the end of the retractable leg frames. Its 10-meter blades give the turbine more than 600 square meters of swept surface to capture tidal energy.
The floating structure is maintained at the station with a four-point mooring system in which each mooring chain has the capacity to lift more than 50 double-decker buses. The machine was designed so that installation of the turbine and all its associated moorings can be done with low cost work vessels and maintenance can be carried out with semi-rigid vessels, minimizing downtime and reducing construction costs and exploitation.
Electricity is transferred from the turbine via a dynamic cable to the seafloor and a static cable along the seafloor to the local power grid on land.
Turbine installation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D-9XT1pyck&t=48s
Turbine operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aGhS9tW6fo&t=72s