Plans by Marine Current Turbines and its project partner RWE npower renewables to install and operate Wales’s first-ever tidal energy farm have moved a step closer with the granting of an Agreement for Lease by The Crown Estate for the Skerries Tidal Stream Array, which is proposed for the waters off the coast of Anglesey, north Wales.
The proposed tidal energy scheme consists of up to 9 turbines in an area between the Skerries group of rocks and islands and Carmel Head about 1Km off the Anglesey coast. The 10MW scheme, which has benefited from funding from the Welsh European Funding Office, will be capable of generating enough power to supply electricity to up to 10,000 homes – approximately 20% of Anglesey’s electricity demand.
The Crown Estate will issue the project a lease, a necessary pre-condition for any offshore sea-bed installation in UK waters, once the required environmental consents for the project have been granted by the Welsh Government. The consents application was submitted to the Welsh Government in March 2011 and a decision is expected within the next few months. Marine Current Turbines is now ramping up its efforts to raise the finance to build the tidal array. The estimated project cost is £70million.
Further information is available from the website link here.