Strangford Loch tidal power turbine output exceeding expectations  

The Belfast Telegraph reports that output from the Strangford Loch tidal power station is exceeding expectations - Strangford wave turbine exceeding expectations (note to the editors - its not wave power).

The marine turbine installed at the mouth of Strangford Lough last year is generating more power than expected, such is the force of the current.

SeaGen is now running fully automatically, producing enough power to meet the average electricity needs for 1,500 UK homes, according to Marine Current Turbines, the company that developed the turbine.

The company has now been granted permission to operate the turbine without any environmental scientists on board to watch for marine mammals. The turbine can now be operated by remote control as experience to date suggests seals and porpoises are not at any significant risk, Marine Current Turbines said.

Peter Fraenkel, technical director and co-founder of the company, told the Lisbon International Ocean Power Conference that SeaGen is running reliably and delivering more energy than originally expected in an extremely aggressive environment.

"It should be remembered it is being driven by a wall of water 27m deep, similar to the height of the Tower of London, that surges back and forth with every tide through the Strangford Narrows in Northern Ireland at speeds of up to 10 miles per hour," he said.

"We are getting more energy than expected mainly because the resource is more energetic than originally predicted during earlier surveys."