Scotrenewables powers through winter storms
16.01.2018
Performance statistics released by Orkney based Scotrenewables Tidal Power confirm its SR2000 tidal current turbine delivered impressive generation throughout heavy North Atlantic storms which battered the Orkney Islands in late autumn and early winter.
During this period, the surface floating SR2000 endured wave heights in excess of 7m. The turbine also managed to maintain continuous generation in sea states of over 4m significant wave height and maintained 2MW rated power in seas of 2m significant wave height – demonstrating the turbine is capable of generating through around 99% of conditions experienced at the Orkney site.
Scotrenewables has been testing its SR2000, the world’s most powerful tidal stream turbine, at EMEC’s Fall of Warness test site since August 2017 and the SR2000 will continue to run through 2018. Over the past five months, the SR2000 has generated in excess of 1.2GWh.
Speaking on the performance Scotrenewables CEO, Andrew Scott, said: “This is only our first winter operating the 2MW unit and we are already fully validating the strong performance and stability of the turbine in really harsh conditions.”
The company has also confirmed that it has only been using low cost vessels for all turbine maintenance and inspections through the period, and has demonstrated service response times of under 1 hour along with ship-to-turbine crew transfers in up to 2m significant wave heights. In reference to this Scott said: “Low cost tidal energy is dependent on being able to maintain turbines cost effectively and maximise generator up time. With our locally stationed service team using small boats, as well as ability to access the turbine in a range of sea conditions, we are proving Scotrenewables have this essential capability with our technology and approach.”