Last October, a group of European offshore companies including Bluewater, Damen and Van Oord joined together to develop and build an innovative tidal energy converter that could be deployed worldwide, especially in coastal locations where electricity supplies are poor.
Bluewater is especially known to the Aberdeen oil & gas community as a production ship fleet owner and operator.
The BlueTEC prototype is ready for deployment and will be “launched” on April 9 at Den Helder by the consortium. It will be moored near Texel in the Waddenzee where there is ample tidal energy to harness.
The BlueTEC tidal platform features an innovative modular design and uses a new type of permanent mooring system. It vaguely resembles an old style midget submarine and is equipped with one or more pairs of underslung three-bladed turbine generators.
