Archive - Tuesday, 17 July 2001


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Haven trials start for tidal power project

PIONEERING trials are currently taking place in the Milford Haven Waterway on a new tidal power project.

The project aims to generate electricity from renewable maritime resources with the minimum of environmental disturbance.

Eventually it could produce 10% of the UK's energy requirements. The project involves lowering a 80-metre square generator under water and is designed to run for a minimum of ten years.

Six such units could power a town the size of Haverfordwest. A total of 3,632 could power the whole of the UK.

The scheme is the brainchild of Pembrokeshire-based Tidal Hydraulic Generators Ltd.

Richard Ayre, project manager, spoke of its benefits at a renewable energy conference in Haverfordwest on Saturday.

'The concept of generating energy in this way is made unique by our novel design feature,' he said.

'The generator is a hydraulic accumulator system, involving relatively small revolving blades which gather power to a central collector, where electricity is generated.'

He said the blades would turn very slowly and fish would be able to swim around it quite easily.

'Marine life will not be affected; they will be quite happy to live under the protection of these units,'he said.

Mr Ayre added that the project had the potential to produce a significant power output without visual pollution.

A consortium of Pembrokeshire businesses, along with design and consulting engineers, are carrying out the field trials. They will provide power output and stress information to enable further design work to continue. The idea is to site the turbines lower than 50 metres, which would be below any storm effects.

The project is supported by the National Assemblys Environmental Development Fund (EDF), which has contributed over £45,000.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority is managing the EDF fund in Pembrokeshire.

Park chief executive Nic Wheeler said: 'This project has enormous potential for progressing renewable energy in Pembrokeshire.'

CAPTIONS: A computer-generated image of the proposed tidal power rig pictures the rig being lowered into the sea. PICTURES: Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.