Channel Islands Tidal Race Accelerates

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The push to turn the Channel Islands off the south coast of England into a major tidal energy hub accelerated this week when plans were revealed for a 300-megawatt (MW) tidal array.

Tidal technology company OpenHydro (Dublin, Ireland), and Alderney Renewable Energy (ARE) have created a joint venture company, Race Tidal Ltd., to develop the array in Alderney waters. OpenHydro already holds a 31% stake in ARE.

The island of Alderney is located in the Channel Islands and estimates show that its territorial waters contain one of the world's largest tidal energy resources, potentially capable of powering 1.5 million homes. The 300-MW Race Tidal project is expected to use 150 OpenHydro turbines rated at 2 MW each, which will produce enough power for more than 150,000 homes. At the same time, FAB Link Limited, a joint venture between ARE and Transmission Investment LLP, is developing a power interconnector between France, Alderney and Britain. This link will enable the tidal power generated in Alderney's waters to be exported to European markets, while also facilitating energy to be traded between France and the U.K. The 300-MW tidal array is expected to be commissioned in 2020, at the same time as the interconnector.

"The economic development of Alderney's tidal power projects will provide Europe with a new source of predictable, clean, renewable energy and improve the security of our energy supplies," explained Nick Horler, executive chairman of Alderney Renewable Energy (ARE). "The joint venture partnership that we now have in place with OpenHydro is a critical piece in the jigsaw as we move to now make significant progress towards creating one of the largest renewable energy projects in European coastal waters."

Thierry Kalanquin, chairman of OpenHydro and senior vice president energies and marine infrastructure of its parent company, DCNS, added: "We are very excited about this next phase in the development of tidal energy in Alderney waters. Our initial agreement with ARE, which dates back to 2007, has been a strategic part of our site development business plan. Today's announcement represents another key milestone as we realize our goals to deliver commercial tidal energy projects. The joint venture that we have signed today with ARE will now ensure the development of a 300-MW tidal array in Alderney waters."

OpenHydro was the first company to deploy a tidal turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in the U.K., and is working on one of the world's leading tidal array projects in France with energy giant Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (Paris). The companies have deployed four devices, each with a generation capacity of more than 2 MW, off the coast of Paimpol-Bréhat in the Brittany region. For additional information, see September 5, 2011, article - Work Starts on World's Largest Tidal Array.

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