100 MW Tidal Power System Moving Forward

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Originally published on Sustainnovate.
By Henry Lindon

Fair Head Tidal Moving Ahead With Plans For 100 MW Tidal Power Array In Northern Ireland

Fair Head Tidal will be moving ahead with its plans to develop a 100 megawatt (MW) tidal energy project in Northern Ireland — by submitting a marine license application later this summer.

The company — a joint venture between Cork-based DP Energy and Belgium’s Bluepower NV — has previously revealed that it expects project costs to end up totaling £400 million, if the project goes forward.

The subsea tidal turbine project — the Fair Head Tidal Energy Park — is slated for placement off the coast of north Antrim, near Ballycastle, and is expected to generate enough electricity to provide for the needs of around 70,000 households.

Extensive onshore and offshore surveys have already been performed for the area, and are currently being analyzed. Findings will be included in the marine license application.

The company is still on track to begin construction on the project in 2018, according to DP Energy’s project manager, Clodagh McGrath.

“The Fair Head Tidal development strategy is to progress with a 100 MW offshore consent application and build the project in phases, planned to commence in 2018. In the past 3 years we have engaged with a wide range of project stakeholders including local communities and government departments,” McGrath noted.

“We will of course continue this engagement process as we finalize our plans and look forward to hosting more local open days this spring before we complete our application. At these open days we will be sharing details on the surveys completed, the proposed tidal energy technologies and how we plan to bring the energy ashore and connect into the national electricity grid.”

The first phase of the project would begin with a 10 MW pilot array.


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