Norwegian-based tidal energy developer, Tidal Sails, has received all the necessary permits to develop a 4 MW tidal energy power plant in Kvalsund Strait, near Hammerfest, Northern Norway.
According to Are Børgesen, Chairman and Founder of Tidal Sails, the project proposal is up for European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme to secure the funding necessary for the construction of Tidal Sails’ third generation tidal energy technology.
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) has recently granted the permit to Tidal Sails for the construction of a 4 MW power plant, and the company has also secured a power purchase agreement with Hammerfest Energi, and an exlusive partnership agreement with the Norwegian Coastal Administration.
The 4 MW TackReach device is 500 m long and uses well proven alpine ropeway technology combined with 400 fully sized sails, thereby exposing an area of close to 2,500 m2 to harness the energy of the tides.
It is a two station solution which operates with sails going back and forth – one sail leg is reaching with the current, and the other is tacking up against the current.
The device will be deployed in the slow moving tidal stream, harbouring currents of about 2 m/s in 2017, pending EU support.
The partners of the project include Doppelmayr, who has concluded full scale friction and wear testing of the ropeway system, besides sail attachment tests.
Norwegian Sapa, the global aluminum extrusion solutions provider, has developed the sails, and German Setec will deliver the direct drive power take-off system. Austrian Teufelberger will provide the rope solution, while Norwegian Global Maritime is responsible for the mooring and installation.
According to Tidal Sails, after the first of a kind/tooling costs have been undertaken during the full scale demonstration in Norway, the consortium expects the first commercial plant in the UK to generate electricity at the LCOE of 0.05 €/kWh.
The consortium is looking for a UK partner to prepare first commercial fields in parallel with the demonstration project.
Image: Tidal Sails/Tidal Sails’ TackReach technology