Guernsey Electricity managing director Ian Watson with Sunday’s Independent, which carried news of tidal power generation in which the company has a stake. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0555306)
A TIDAL energy project backed by Guernsey Electricity is receiving national media attention.
The Independent on Sunday carried a front-page story and double-page spread on the project, which will see the first commercial-scale tidal power turbine installed in Northern Ireland.
And the newspaper’s leader article heralded the development as ‘a watershed for clean energy’. Guernsey Electricity is a minority shareholder in Marine Current Turbines, the UK company that is installing the equipment in the waters of Strangford Lough, south of Belfast.
Known as SeaGen, it is the largest device of its type and is capable of generating up to 1.2MW.
Guernsey Electricity managing director Ian Watson said the technology was the most viable way to generate renewable energy locally.
‘The possibilities for wind power in Guernsey are limited because we don’t have
the space to deploy this technology on any large scale,’ he said.
‘But where tidal stream generation is concerned, the waters around us are some of the best in the world.
‘We believe tidal generation represents by far the most suitable source of renewable energy for Guernsey.
‘The prospect of the island being able to generate clean, renewable electricity is very real and with each development that possibility is a good deal closer.’
A specialist barge is on its way from Norway to Northern Ireland and is expected to arrive at the end of this week.
It should begin positioning the turbine in the water early next week.
Work was scheduled to begin last weekend, but the barge was delayed by storms.
MCT also recently announced a joint project with UK electricity giant npower to build a tidal farm near Anglesey capable of producing clean, renewable energy for about 10,000 homes.
The area, known as the Skerries, is believed to be one of the prime locations in UK waters for such a project. Guernsey has also previously been identified as having similar potential.
It is likely to be one of the first commercial projects of its type in the world, generating electricity that would meet about 7.5% of Guernsey’s demand, and could be in operation by 2011.
Article posted on 26th March, 2008 - 2.29pm
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