A Shetland marine energy firm has completed construction on a new incarnation of tidal turbine, able to cut costs by around 30%.
Nova Innovation, who launched the world’s first offshore array of tidal power turbines at Shetland’s Bluemull Sound in 2016, announced the completion of its direct drive tidal turbine – which eliminates the need for a gear box .
The firm secured more than £2 million of funding from the European Commission’s SME Instrument to develop the direct drive tidal turbine, known as D2T2.
Once the new tidal array has been deployed at Nova’s base in Shetland, the firm intends to export 15 of the new direct drive turbines to Canada.
Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation said: “We are delighted that our new turbine is now successfully complete and ready to be deployed in commercial projects around the world.
“The EIC’s programme has turbo-charged the commercialisation of Nova, helping to drive Europe’s Green Deal and blue economy.
“The ingenuity and clever simplicity of our product has helped drive down costs, making tidal energy increasingly bankable.”
Nova completed subsea testing of the new turbine at Babcock’s Rosyth Site, near Dunfermline.
The three-year project aims to reduce the cost of tidal power by 30% through increased efficiency and long-term reliability testing, Nova said.
Jean-David Malo, director of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Taskforce, said: “We are very happy to see the excellent progress the tidal energy industry has made in recent years, with projects such as Nova Innovation’s D2T2 have helped with this by significantly reducing costs associated with the industry.
“These advances are helping to ensure tidal energy is on track to achieve the targets within the EU SET-Plan, helping the EU combat climate change and move towards being carbon neutral.
“A concrete contribution to the Green Deal goals.”
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