World's Largest Underwater Turbine Installed

Massive structure off Northern Ireland will start producing electricity later this year

By Gregory Mone Posted 04.08.2008 at 8:39 am 3 Comments

seagen turbines Marine Current Turbines

The concept of harvesting the ocean as an energy source is nothing new, but in practice it's rarely utilized. That's beginning to change, though. This week, the first major underwater turbine was installed in Northern Ireland's Strangford Narrows—a body of water known for its fierce currents. SeaGen's twin blades measure 52 feet wide, and instead of intermittent winds, this green electricity generator will rely on the ever-changing tide to produce power for around 1,000 homes. Built by Marine Current Turbines, it will be operational this summer.

The blades are designed for bi-directional flow, so that they turn regardless of which way the tide is rushing. They'll spin 10 to 20 times per minute. The company says this is slow enough to allow fish and other sea creatures to get out of the way if they're swimming on through. But it certainly doesn't sound like anything a diver would want to approach.

This Seagen installation may be just the first step. As part of another project, the company is also hoping to install a farm of underwater turbines off Wales that would be capable of powering thousands of homes.

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3 Comments

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GreekSamiotis

04/08/08 at 3:36 pm

The United States should start adopting these green technologies for the future of our children and stop being dependant on Arab and other foreighn oil producing nations. President Bush and Vice President Dick Chaney are oil men and only think of their own pockets & the pockets of big oil companies. They do not care about the futre of the middle class.

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mpederse

04/08/08 at 4:22 pm

I just wonder why they dident put a Windmill on top of it to add som extra power ?

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collins661

04/09/08 at 7:55 am

mpederse before putting a windmill anywere one studies the quality of the wind. i imagine the structure here is optimized for the stress applied to the structure in two directions ie the direction of the tides back and forth. if the mainstream of the wind isn't parallel to the direction of the tides it's not worth the trouble of erecting a sturdier structure, collins