Largest tidal device to be unveiled on Cromarty Firth

A device thought to the largest tidal energy turbine to be built in the world is due to be unveiled in Scotland.

Developer Atlantis Resources have had the AK-1000 assembled at a facility at Evanton in Ross-shire.

It will be towed on a barge from Invergordon to a European Marine Energy Centre test site off Eday, Orkney.

Atlantis, which has offices in London and Singapore, will reveal further details on the project at a press conference.

Following final assembly at a yard in Evanton, the AK-1000 has been moved to docks Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth.

Atlantis has been leading a plan to use tidal energy to power a computer data centre in the far north of Scotland.

Earlier this year, the corporation said it remained committed to the project.

The computer data centre would provide services for a number of companies and be powered by tidal energy rather than depend on electricity supplied to the National Grid.

Atlantis did not apply for the first round of leases for renewable energy sites in the Pentland Firth that were granted by the Crown Estate in March.

But chief executive Timothy Cornelius said the company proposed bidding when other locations were made available.

Two years of planning have gone into the data facility and tidal scheme.

The Crown Estate leased 10 sites on the seabed around Orkney and the Pentland Firth to seven companies.

 

Source: By BBC News
Story from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-10942856