Tidal energy generation to be tried in New Zealand

Neptune Power is planning to install a tidal energy turbine in Cook Strait in the coming summer to generate power from sea tides.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council granted the firm resource consent this month for an experiment that could take up to a decade.

Chris Bathurst, a director of Neptune Power revealed that the firm was waiting for the outcome of a prototype that is being tested in Scotland prior to purchasing the tidal energy turbine.

As of now indications are that the trial tidal energy turbine is working as planned and what remains now is testing its performance and reliability levels.

If everything goes according to plan Neptune Power will set up the tidal energy turbine about four and a half kilometres off the Island Bay of Wellington. The project will require an investment of ten million dollars and will produce about one megawatt of electricity which is enough to meet the requirements of five hundred households for one year.

The director of Neptune Power estimates that the Cook Strait has a potential for the generation of twelve gigawatts of electricity which is one and a half times what is being generated in New Zealand at present. This would require an investment of billions of dollars.

At present plans are that the tidal energy turbines be manufactured in New Zealand. The tidal energy turbines are made of carbon fibre which ensures that compared to the traditional wind power turbines, their generational capacity is three times more.

Chris Bathurst expressed optimism that New Zealand can emerge as an exporter of marine power expertise in a similar fashion to what it has done with production of electricity from geothermal sources.

www.neptunepower.com