UK based Offshore Ship Designers (OSD) are going to commence testing activities at the Humber estuary site where Neptune Renewable Energy's (NRE) Proteus NP1000 tidal energy conversion device it to be installed. OSD is the company that brought NRE's technology into life through a catamaran like device, measuring 20 meters in length and 14 meters in width. It weighs more than 150 tons, and was built in Sunderland, under supervision of OSD, then transported to Hull, where performance trials are to take place.

The original concept was developed at the University of Hull, through CFD calculations and mathematical and physical modelling. In order to produce a full scale demonstration device, NRE had to raise funding, which it did in 2008, through a private investment.

Proteus NP1000 houses a vertical axis hydroturbine with 6 meters in diameter, which generates optimal amounts of power, secured by a computer controlled of regulators which regulate the flow of sea water through the turbine.

After the testing period on the this demo device is complete, the next phase includes the installation of ten more such devices in the Humber estuary. According to the company, there are at least ten more locations in the UK where tidal energy power plants such as this could be installed, and hundreds of locations worldwide.

[source: Offshore Ship Designers, image: Neptune Renewable Energy]