Feedback on tidal current power generation

Anyone who has kayaked, sailed or navigated the tide races that run off the west coast of Wales will know the immense power of tidal current at full flood or ebb. Few, if any companies have built on this better than Bristol - based Marine Current Turbines, a case study in engineering and business excellence who have turned a good idea into 350MWH of electricity delivered into the Northern Ireland grid from the Sea Gen turbine installed at Strangford Narrows.

A couple of years back, I had the pleasure of consulting for MCT as they built their team and business, readying for high performance. It's a joy to see hard work, vision, perseverence and good leadership pay off. In the words of Peter Fraenkel, the company's softly spoken Technical Director, it's wonderful to see good projects come true:

"We are delighted with SeaGen’s performance. It is running reliably and delivering more energy than originally expected in an extremely aggressive environment. It should be remembered it is being driven by a wall of water 27m deep, similar to the height of the Tower of London, that surges back and forth with every tide through the Strangford Narrows in Northern Ireland at speeds of up to 10 miles per hour. We are getting more energy than expected mainly because the resource is more energetic than originally predicted during earlier surveys”

With two companies starting out exploration, design and development of potential turbine installation at Ramsey Sound, on the coast west of St.Davids, this is excellent to see - they have the capability to provide the energy for every house within 15 miles of here.