Tide turns for a new source of power as installation approved

Neptune Renewable Energy Ltd has been issued a Transport and Works Act Order by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to install a Proteus NP1000 demonstrator and shore bridge in the Humber.

Installation of the device, which will supply around half The Deep’s energy needs during the day, has been delayed some months but is now on course to be deployed during the autumn.

Eventually the plan is to install an array of five close to the existing site, which will provide power for 5,000 homes.

The £2.5m demonstrator, paid for by private investors, is set to be the first full-scale tidal stream power plant in the region.

Backers say the predictability of tidal stream power is a major advantage over unreliable sources of green energy like wind and its cost compares well with wind. Production costs should come down with future devices.

Securing devices in the open sea has proved difficult – they are liable to break up under the battering – but the Proteus’s location in the estuary will protect it.

Neptune Renewable Energy has awarded contracts to two Humber-based firms to carry out the final preparatory work.

Point Engineering Ltd, of east Hull, is building the 59-metre steel landbridge that will allow maintenance access and carry power cables connecting with The Deep.

The bridge will be installed by Humber Work Boats Ltd of North Killingholme, which will position and secure the device around 65 metres from the seawall.

The 150-tonne Neptune Proteus was towed along Hull’s William Wright Dock in July 2010 and generated levels of electrical power output beyond the minimum commercial requirement.

It has since undergone final fitting out and electrical installation.

Glenn Aitken, finance director of Neptune Renewable Energy, said the device would generate around a third of the power of the 2MW Croda turbine in Hull, but they could count on getting the power 24/7, apart from at high or low water. He said they were delighted to have secured the Government’s approval.

He added: “As the region develops into a leading UK centre for renewable energy, we need to raise awareness of the potential for tidal power business as a significant contributor.

“It has some clear advantages over wind power including being a totally predictable and continuous source of clean energy as well as being visually unobtrusive.”

He put the delay down to bureaucracy, getting permits and going through lawyers and getting leases, as well engineering works following their trials last year.

He said: “It is a major job; it is 20m long, by 14m wide, and six high. The mechanics of taking that from where it is and wiring it is quite tricky.”

Jonathan Rollison, sales and finance director at Point Engineering, said: “Our team at Point is really excited about winning this contract. To see the generator moored up in the river producing power for The Deep will be a great thrill for Neptune and all those involved in this innovative and ground-breaking project.”

Last weekend also saw the installation of the electrical equipment at the control room for the Neptune Proteus located at The Deep. Further work on this will be carried out over the following month.

Colin Brown, chief executive of The Deep, said using energy harnessed from the Humber was “entirely fitting for us as an ocean-themed visitor attraction.”

Although the technology used is new, the idea is ancient. Tide mills date from the Middle Ages, or even Roman times.

Sea could power 25pc of UK needs

Backers of tidal power say the UK could produce a quarter of its electricity from tides.

Unlike other renewable technologies, tidal power is predictable as we know to the minute when the tides will be at their peak .

Supporters say once installed, the running costs of tidal stream technology will be low. Their environmental impact also appears to be small.