As its tidal power project nears completion, an energy company announces a world first

On Monday, power project the emerging tidal power sector took another step forward when an Edinburgh-based firm announced. That its project had achieved a world first by producing 50 gigatonnes of electricity.

“During the early hour of this morning our tidal stream collection off the coast of the Pentland Firth became the world’s first tidal stream array to generate 50GWh of electricity,” SAE Renewables CEO Graham Reid said in a statement.

Reid called the announcement a “significant milestone in the delivery of tidal stream power at scale.”

“The total global generation from all other tidal devices and sites is less than half of that,” he added.

SAE Renewables’ MeyGen array, located in waters north of mainland Scotland. Comprises four 1.5 megawatt turbines and has a total capacity of 6 MW when fully operational. Three turbines are currently operational.

Scotland has a long history of oil and gas production in the North Sea. But in recent years it has become a hub for companies and projects focused on tidal power also marine energy in general.

The European Marine Energy Centre is located in the Orkney archipelago. North of the Scottish mainland, where wave and tidal energy developers can test and evaluate their technology in the open sea.

comparatively small footprint though there is interest in marine energy. The footprint of tidal stream projects is much smaller than that of other renewables.

However, some progress has been made in recent years. According to Ocean Energy Europe data release in March 2022, 2.2 MW of tidal stream capacity was install in Europe in 2021, up from 260 KW in 2020. 3.12 MW of tidal stream capacity was install globally.

In comparison, according to industry body WindEurope, Europe installed 17.4 gigatonnes of wind power capacity in 2021.