World's Largest Tidal Turbine In North Of Scotland
4th September 2010
Giant tidal turbine successfully installed on the seabed at the EMEC facility
Orkney: Atlantis Resources Corporation has successfully deployed its AK1000™ tidal turbine - the world's largest rotor diameter tidal turbine - on its subsea berth, in 35 meters of water at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland.
The installation follows the turbine unveiling ceremony, held in Invergordon on August 12th and attended by officials and dignitaries from seven different countries. After the event, Atlantis, in conjunction with Hallin Marine, mobilised the 22.5 meter tall, 1300 tonne structure on to the DOF vessel, the Skandi Skolten, to be taken to Orkney. Once there, it took just seven days to install the gravity base structure, over 1000 tonnes of ballast blocks and finally, the turbine nacelle, complete with its twin set of 18 meter diameter rotors.
Drew Blaxland, Chief Technology Officer at Atlantis, commented: "The entire team at Atlantis, together with our onshore and offshore technology and construction partners, is delighted with this installation programme. The large rotor diameter of the turbine and the tight tidal windows we had to operate within presented significant challenges, but these were overcome with meticulous preparation, a 'can-do' attitude and the discipline to apply the right resources to what was a major offshore engineering operation."
The AK1000™ will now undergo electrical connection to the power export cable recently laid by EMEC at its facility, located at the Fall of Warness in Orkney. These operations are expected to take up to two weeks, depending on weather conditions. Atlantis has established a dedicated control centre on the Island of Eday from which the AK1000 turbine can be controlled and monitored.
"This is yet another significant step towards proving to stakeholders, project sponsors, regulators and the general public that tidal power is the most exciting emerging technology in the renewable power generation mix", said Atlantis CEO, Tim Cornelius. "The installation of tidal turbine systems is a key component in achieving economic viability for tidal power projects. Atlantis has proven that with adequate planning, appropriate resource and the adoption of technology developed over the past 20 years in the oil and gas industry, commercial scale turbines can be installed safely and cost effectively, even in the most challenging of open ocean locations."
The AK1000™ now starts a commissioning and operation program that will last up to three years and the power generated from it will be dispatched into the local grid in Scotland.
First The Pentland Firth - Next The Whole Marine Sector
One wave-breaking application for Atlantis Resources' Solon tidal turbine is an off-grid data centre in the north of Scotland.
The GBP 400m (USD 660m) project being floated by the company would see a 150-megawatt (MW) aray of turbines installed in the Pentland Firth, located between the Scottish mainland and the Orkney Islands, powering a small city of computer servers housed on the island of Hoy.
One the surface, the project is a good fit: low temperatures in the region would help cool the energy-hungry banks of computers, while the Pentland Firth tides, which course through at up to 140kmh, could generate 10 - 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, according to Scottish government figures.
"The idea was born out of necessity - there is a fantastic [tidal energy] resource in the Pentland Firth, but everyone is well aware of the transmission constraints in the north of Scotland,' states Atlantis chief executive Tim Cornelius.
"We realized that while you could go through the normal leasing process, it would be suboptimal to end up in a situation where you access to such a resource, but no way to evacuate the power," he continues.
Two years ago, Atlantis began studying the transmission issue, including ways of "installing loads locally" within sectors that are known to be energy intensive. "Data centres are the ideal end-user," says Cornelius.
"They provide a local load to which we could dispatch power, while also meeting the UK's need for increased data-processing capacity. It's a win-win for both sides."
The concept has piqued the interest of several big industry names in renewable energy including Norway's Statkraft, which in March invested USD7m to bolster Atlantis' efforts to move the data-centre project forward.
Atlantis is currently in discussions with "several parties that are active participants in the data-centre space to determine the costings and local partner involvement."
A formal announcement of the project's lead-off phase - likely to entail 30MW of generating capacity - is foreseen "in the next couple of months".
Although by scale it is something of a boutique project, the Pentland Firth data centre could be one of a number of regional projects that proves seminal to the marine renewables sector as it makes the leap from building technology prototypes to widespread commercial take-up, suggests Cornelius. "There is no doubt that the correct execution of the Pentland Firth projects is critical not just to Atlantis, but to the entire marine [renewables] sector," he states.
"The investment community, the local stakeholders, the technology providers all need to see the first 50 - 100MW successfully deployed in a capex [capital expenditure] regime that is acceptable and returns good IRR [internal rate of return] to investors," says Cornelius.
"That will be the catalyst to a much broader market to everyone playing in this space."
He adds: "If the Pentland Firth works, it will open the door to projects in locations where we know there is excellent flow off the US, off Canada, off Korea, off Japan."
Whilst the Pentland Firth is tidal resource rich, there are several commercial issues that have the potential to impede the development of the sector in the North of Scotland including transmission constraints and the lack of a local industrial load. Atlantis recognized these issues and set about creating innovative solutions such as Project Blue, the much publicized green data centre project that will see at least 30MW of data centre capacity be built in the North of Scotland to be powered by Atlantis tidal turbines. Project Blue represents a win-win for all players, with the data centre developer reducing their carbon foot print using a combination of tidal power and free air cooling, the local community benefits from the creation of up to 700 local jobs and Atlantis is able to connect at least 30MW of tidal power in the Pentland Firth, subject to the Crown Estate leasing procedure and EIA permitting procedures and consents.
The race is now definitely on to harness the vast energy resources of the UK's tidal power and the Pentland Firth may hold the key to answering not only Scotland's but the UK's energy requirements as north Sea oil and gas runs down. the potential is huge but so are the technical and human challenges faced by government and companies to tap this source. It looks like we are now at the start of a very exciting future for the north of Scotland as these energy resources will provide many opportunities for a wide range of jobs and opportunities to learn new skills.
Web Site http://www.atlantisresourcescorporation.com
