Tidal electricity floods national grid

The world’s first commercial scale tidal turbine was connected to the national grid this week.

Developed by Bristol-based Marine Current Turbines (MCT), the SeaGen turbine was installed in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, in May this year, and is now ready for trial operations.

The turbine is currently producing 150kW of electricity, which will be bought by Irish company ESB energy and used by homes in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

If all goes to plan, then the power will be ramped up to 300kW by the end of the summer, and then to its full capacity of 1.2MW later this year - powering 1,000 homes.

This is over four times more powerful than any other sea-turbine currently in operation.

Martin Wright, Managing Director of MCT, said he was ‘delighted’ to have achieved a world first.

He added that if the trial proves successful, more sites around the UK’s coastline will have turbines installed, with Anglesey as the next planned site.

If put to full use, the strong tidal currents around the UK could provide enough energy to produce 15 gigawatts of electricity.