Island of Yell to House First Community-Owned Tidal Power Plant

The Island of Yell, one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland could soon house the world’s first community-owned tidal energy generator, as the necessary components have arrived there and are waiting to be assembled.

The installation of the 30kW tidal project, developed by the North Yell Development Council, will start within a week, subject to weather conditions. A workboat is expected to arrive within that time frame to support the installation of the device, called Nova-30, in Bluemull Sound, writes the Shetland Times.

The tidal turbine will power an ice plant in Cullivoe. When the ice plant is not being used, the electricity will be transferred to the local grid.

Nova Innovation, a Leith based tidal energy company, awarded Steel Engineering a contract to fabricate the Nova-30 tidal device in 2012.

The 30kW tidal turbine employs a horizontal axis and a three-bladed rotor to extract reliable and predictable energy from the tides. The generating unit, consisting of a Siemens gearbox and a generator, is housed in a watertight nacelle.

The turbine is fully yawable (increasing revenue by up to 40%) and is connected to a solid gravity mooring and anchoring mechanism on the seabed.

The project is scheduled to be connected to the National Grid in May 2015.

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Offshore WIND Staff, February 25, 2014; Image: Nova Innovation