Clean power and gas generation off Scotland’s coasts from turbines both subsea and floating received a double boost today.
High-end tidal turbine engineers Nova Innovation received £2 million from Holyrood’s Scottish Enterprise Agency, with a remit to seek export earnings from a European-focused assembly line for the devices.
Edinburgh-based, and with offices in Dublin & Belgium, Nova runs a development project called VOLT, translating as Volume Manufacturing and Logistics for Tidal Energy.
The firm believes marine generation is delivering already on cost savings that could see it cheaper than nuclear within this decade. The global marine turbine market could amount to £126bn by mid-century.
Nova’s tidal turbines have been keeping Shetland’s lights since 2016, when the firm installed the world’s first offshore array in Bluemull Sound.
Nova competes directly with another Scot tidal engineer, Orbital Marine Power, makers of the world’s most powerful subsea generator. Fabricated in Dundee, Orbital’s 2MW twin-spinner O2 device last week began feeding the national grid from its spot in the Orkneys.
Today’s second boost saw three hydrogen development partners announce a memo of understanding, aimed at delivering the 200 MW Salamander project for floating turbines off the Aberdeenshire coast.
ERM’s proprietary Dolphyn technology links electrolysis, desalination and hydrogen making, within a single module operating on a floating wind platform. No carbon emissions result from the system, which describes as ” economic and scalable”.
The trio named Scotia Gas Network as their distribution partner for the venture’s product. SGN this week changed ownership, as former parent SSE sold it for £1.225bn to partners Brookfield Infrastructure and an Ontario pension fund.
