Energy group states that its first tidal power project strikes a notable milestone

February 22, 2023: On Monday, the emerging tidal power sector took another step forward; an Edinburgh-headquartered firm said that its project had received a world first by making 50-gigawatt hours of electricity.

“In the early hours of this sunrise, our tidal stream array off the shore of the Pentland Firth became the initial tidal stream array in the world generating 50GWh of electricity,” Graham Reid, the CEO of SAE Renewables, stated.

Reid described the announcement as a “significant milestone in delivering tidal stream power at scale.”

“Total international generation from all other tidal devices and sites is below 50% of that amount,” he said.

Located in the waters of mainland Scotland in the north, SAE Renewables’ MeyGen array comprises four 1.5 megawatt turbines and has a complete capacity of 6 MW when completely operational. At present, three turbines are under action.

“The MeyGen site has been under operation since 2017, we have been over many challenges, with reliability being a problem in the early days, but we have experienced an immense amount along the way,” Reid said.

Scotland has an association with North Sea oil and gas production. Still, it’s become a hub for firms and projects focusing on tidal power and marine energy in recent years.

These businesses include Nova Innovation, which has increased the 600 kilowatt Shetland Tidal place, and Orbital Marine Power, which works on what it stated is the “most powerful tidal turbine in this world.”

Scottish mainland in the north, the archipelago of Orkney, is the residence of the European Marine Energy Centre, where wave and tidal energy makers can test and get their technology in the open sea.