Seagen produces 2 GWh

Bristol based tidal technology developer Marine Current Turbine has reached another milestone this week with their Seagen device. This week the single device has generated 2,000,000 kWh during 2 years of operation.

The 1 MW device, installed in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, has been operating since July 2008 and is one of the most developed tidal devices in the sector. After a period of reduced operating hours for environmental monitoring reasons, the device is now running 24 hours a day. Under the restrictions it took 19 months to produce the first million kWh. Once the restrictions were lifted it only took 5 months to produce the second.

Peter Fraenkel, Technical Director of MCT said: “Passing the 2 million kWh mark represents considerable progress and underlines the significant potential that our technology and base-load tidal energy has to offer. We are delivering marine energy on a daily basis which shows that our SeaGen technology is leading the race to harness the power of the seas by a large margin”