Marine Current Turbines News

Schottel, the manufacturer of propulsion and steering systems for ships and offshore applications, has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc (BRTP)."Following the successful collaboration between SME, Schottel Hydro and Black Rock Tidal Power to develop and demonstrate the PLAT-I floating tidal energy system, with deployments in Scotland and in Canada, Schottel has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into SME," said a press statement from Sustainable Marine Energy.The provider of tidal energy technology anchor solutions for marine current turbines said that  Schottel  has transferred all its tidal energy assets…

Tim Cornelius, CEO of global tidal developer Atlantis Resources has taken a seat on the Board of Directors of Ocean Energy Europe – the industry group for ocean renewable energy – by becoming a Lead Sponsor of the organisation. The move reflects Atlantis’ position as a leading developer of commercial tidal power projects and underpins its commitment to driving the market for ocean renewable energy. Following its acquisition of pioneering tidal company Marine Current Turbines earlier this year, Atlantis Resources now owns one of the largest and most diverse portfolios in the business, with a project pipeline of 600MW. This portfolio includes the 398MW MeyGen project, the world’s largest planned tidal stream array which is currently under construction in the Pentland Firth, Scotland.

“Britannia rules the waves” paid a glowing tribute to the maritime past of the United Kingdom. Over the past three centuries as the sun began to set on the British power, resilient U.K. with its pioneering characteristics began its voyage of transformation to become a world-class maritime services center, with one of the largest clusters of marine insurance, ship finance, law, classification societies, ship broking, education and consultancy organizations. Significantly, two factors were responsible for this change. The first being marine transport, since it was the only point of access to the British Isles, and the second was the maritime trade and naval power that have had a great impact on the maritime sector influencing the country’s economy for several centuries.

Composite high-speed craft designer and builder CTruk has appointed shipbuilding industry veteran Peter McIntosh OBE to succeed Andy White as chairman. McIntosh, the former executive director of VT Group PLC, holds experience of the marine and defense industries and will steer the innovative company through its next stage of growth, CTruk said. White will remain on the board as an executive director. Managing director Ben Simpson will be working closely with McIntosh on implementing…

Northrop Grumman Corporation will appoint Andrew Tyler chief executive for the United Kingdom and Europe, effective July 1, 2013. In this new position, Tyler will play a leading role in supporting the company's current programmers, developing strategies for growth and identifying new business opportunities for the company's activities in the U.K. and Europe, including NATO countries. He joins Northrop Grumman from Siemens' Marine Current Turbines where he was chief executive officer. Prior to that he was chief operating officer at Defense Equipment & Support (DE&S) in the U.K.

CEOs of the world’s leading tidal device developers to meet & collaborate at upcoming summit. CEOs from Atlantis Resources Corporation, Andritz Hydro Hammerfest, Marine Current Turbines, Tidal Generation (Rolls Royce) and Voith Hydro Ocean Current Technologies have again committed in 2012 to help push forward the tidal energy industry by continued collaboration and information sharing. They will be joined for the first time by Christopher Sauer, the President and CEO of the USA’s Ocean Renewable Power Company. The ORPC has made headlines this year by securing a PPA agreement with the Maine Public Utilities Commission to sell grid-connected power from their TidGen project in Eastport, giving a boost to device developers and manufacturers.

British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines Ltd, announced that Siemens is increasing its share in the company to 45%. “With this increase in its stake, Siemens is strengthening its activities in ocean power generation. We will actively shape the commercialization process of innovative marine current power plants,” said Michael Axmann, CFO of the newly founded Solar & Hydro Division within Siemens’ Energy Sector. Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has evolved from a pioneer to a technology leader in horizontal axis marine current turbines and now has 25 employees. In February 2010 Siemens acquired a minor stake in the Bristol-based company and thus entered the marine tidal current market. Financial details of today’s announcement are not disclosed.

Tritech expands its industry-standard sonar range with a key renewables device, launching its Gemini SeaTec Mammal Detection System at the All-Energy show in Aberdeen, UK. Gemini SeaTec is a mammal detection system which provides a valuable tool in the detection of marine life around subsea turbines. Tritech’s subsea sonars have been deployed on marine current structures since 2008 when the company made its first step into the offshore renewables sector. Tritech has now developed its real-time multibeam imaging sonar technology for this market.

Marine Current Turbines, the UK tidal energy technology company, has won EnergyOcean International’s 2011 Technology Pioneer Award for successfully demonstrating and running their commercial-scale SeaGen tidal technology. The award will be received by Martin Wright, Chief Executive of Marine Current Turbines (MCT), at the EnergyOcean International 2011 Conference in Portland, Maine, USA next month (June 15th). The 1.2MW SeaGen, located in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough, is the only tidal current turbine anywhere in the world to feed power regularly into a local electricity grid on a commercial basis. It has been operating since 2008 and has the capacity to generate electricity for the equivalent of 1500 homes.

An application from Marine Current Turbines, the UK tidal energy developer, to secure money from the European Union’s New Entrant Reserve (NER) scheme has been approved by the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change. Marine Current Turbines’ application for its proposed tidal farm in Scotland’s Kyle Rhea will now go forward for consideration by the European Investment Bank. The EU’s NER scheme is a fund worth around EUR4.5 billion to support carbon capture and storage and innovative renewable projects, such as the Kyle Rhea tidal scheme, across the European Union. Marine Current Turbines (MCT) is one of four marine energy companies that have passed the UK Government’s criteria for the NER scheme.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has visited Marine Current Turbines’ SeaGen, a marine current and tidal stream technology that is deployed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough and generating power into the local grid on a daily basis. On May 13, HRH was greeted by Mr David Lindsay the Lord-Lieutenant for County Down and went on to meet Mrs Arlene Foster MLA Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Martin Wright Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines (MCT), and Professor Peter Gregson DL President and Vice-Chancellor Queen’s University Belfast.