Nova Innovation has started operating the world’s first commercial grid-connected offshore tidal array.
Nova Innovation has started operating the world’s first commercial grid-connected offshore tidal array.
The tidal energy firm announced that it has connected the second of three 100 kW turbines planned for deployment in the Bluemull Sound, Shetland, and that the units are supplying energy to Shetland’s grid.
Nova Innovation’s first Nova M-100 turbine was installed in March 2016, it said. The device has been generating to full power across all tidal conditions.
“Nova's success heralds a new era for tidal energy as a long-term source of predictable renewable power (unlike other forms of renewable energy),” the firm said in a statement.
Belgian renewable energy firm ELSA has partnered with Nova Innovation in the project.
The UK Carbon Trust estimates a global tidal energy market of £126 billion could be developed by 2050.