Scotrenewables Tidal Power announced it has generated over 3GWh from its first 2MW floating tidal stream turbine in its first year of testing at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland.

The company noted that is more power than that generated by the entire wave and tidal energy sectors in Scotland in the twelve years prior to the launch of the SR2000 in 2016. The team at Scotrenewables said that this, combined with Meygen’s generation of over 8GWh over the past year from four tidal turbines deployed in the Pentland Firth, is convincing evidence of tidal power’s market readiness.

Andrew Scott, chief executive  of Scotrenewables Tidal Power said: “The SR2000’s phenomenal performance has set a new benchmark for the tidal industry. Despite being an R&D project, and it being our first full scale turbine, its first year of testing at EMEC has delivered a performance level approaching that of widely deployed mature renewable technologies”.

“The ability to easily access the SR2000 for routine maintenance has been a significant factor in our ability to generate electricity at such levels over the past 12 months, including over winter.”

With support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme, Scotrenewables Tidal Power is planning to start the build of a 2MW commercial production unit later in the year which will also go to Orkney for testing before the company targets sales of the turbine.