Marine Energy

HydroWing unveils plans for tidal energy project in Wales

HydroWing unveils plans for tidal energy project in Wales
Torcado Turbines (image supplied by HydroWing)

HydroWing has been awarded a contract for a 10 MW tidal stream energy project in Wales in the UK government’s latest Contract for Difference round.

The project will be located at the Morlais tidal energy site in Anglesey, which is managed by Menter Môn. The Morlais site is the UK’s largest consented tidal energy scheme.

HydroWing is now starting intensive work on delivering the project, including engaging with local stakeholders and supply chain companies while also establishing a presence in Anglesey.

A research project has already been conducted in partnership with Bangor University to assess the velocity of local tide currents. The outputs from this have been very encouraging in informing expectations on the yield characteristics of the site.

“The Morlais project is a major milestone in our quest to become the largest provider of tidal energy arrays in the world,” said Richard Parkinson, managing director of Inyanga Marine Energy Group, which is the parent company for HydroWing. “This ground-breaking project will launch our innovative tidal stream technology at utility scale. Commercialization of the tidal energy sector has so far been held back by high operations and maintenance costs. Our next generation technology meets that challenge head on.”

HydroWing is designed to be a cost-effective and scalable solution to tidal stream energy generation. A supporting structure sits on the seabed, under its own weight. The “wings” that hold the turbines are then lowered into position on this structure. The turbines are bi-directional, so they generate power as the tide comes in and as it goes out.

Richard Parkinson explained: “The HydroWing technology to be used for the Morlais project will incorporate the next generation Tocardo T-3 turbines. We have been working on the development of a Passive Pitch Mechanism which integrates with the Tocardo Bi-Blade system allowing the blade dimensions to be increased, while shedding pitch at higher loads. This is similar to an active pitching mechanism but without compromising the reliability for which the Tocardo Turbines are well known. This increases the yield by 50-60% and makes projects in lower flow locations more feasible and investible.”

The HydroWing team has ambitions to deliver a commercially viable project that is set to be deployed in 2027.

This article was originally published on sister site Power Engineering International.