Marine Current Turbines’ (MCT) SeaGen tidal turbine, installed in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland, will be undergoing scheduled inspection and maintenance from Monday, December 15.
SeaGen comprises a central pile and crossbeam that holds the turbines at the extremities. The crossbeam is expected to be raised above the water for inspection and maintenance work for a period of 3 days.
SeaGen works by generating power from sea currents, using a pair of axial flow turbines driving generators through gearboxes using similar principles to wind generator technology. The main difference is that the high density of seawater compared to wind allows a much smaller system. SeaGen has twin 600kW turbines, each of 16m diameter.
The tidal turbine has over 400 square meters of rotor area, which is why it can develop its full rated power of 1.2MW in a flow of 2.4m/s (5 knots).
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Source: Marine Current Turbines