Tidal Stream Turbine

Marine Current Turbines (MCT) based in Bristol have recently used Aerco’s Design Support Team to help with sensing requirements used on their new SeaGen Machine. 

The SeaGen Machine is the world’s first commercial tidal stream turbine and has acheived its maximum generating capacity of 1.2MW in the fast flowing waters of Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. The SeaGen turbine operates like an underwater wind turbine, with the rotors driven by tidal currents rather than the wind.
The SeaGen machine will operate for upto 22 hours a day supplying Power to the Irish energy company, ESB independent for use by its customers in Northern Ireland. SeaGen has the capacity to meet the average electricity needs of approximately 1,000 homes.
The machine uses a pair of axial flow turbines to drive generators through gearboxes in a similar way to wind turbines. The SeaGen uses two 16m- diameter turbines, each capable of generating 600kW.
MCT have used Aerco supplied sensors by Contrinex with the help of the Design Support Team and Martyn Wheatley of Contrinex during the development stage of the project.