The transformer station attached to the 1.2 MW SeaGen marine current generator in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland is scheduled to go live today. July 2nd 2008, with first production of electric power to start on Friday July 4th.
Installation was delayed by lack of a suitable rig to install the cylindrical pile on which the two 16m rotors are mounted. This led to a last minute redesign to mount the main support on a 9m x 17m quadrupole base with pin piles so the construction could be lowered into position by a crane barge.
Angela Robotham, engineering director of designers and builders, Marine Current Turbines said that because all available drilling and pile installation rigs are fully engaged in installing offshore wind turbines, their engineering team is looking at, “All possible support mechanisms, including monopiles, tripods and quadrupoles”, for subsequent installations, such as the next project, which is to be a 10.5 MW tidal energy farm off the coast of the Welsh island of Anglesey in a patch of 25 metre deep open sea known as The Skerries. Robotham considers that marine current technology is, “Where the wind turbine industry was 30 years ago”.
The SeaGen was designed using Autodesk Inventor
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