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An up-to-date review of large marine tidal current
turbine technologies
Zhibin Zhou, Franck Scuiller, Jean Frédéric Charpentier, Mohamed
Benbouzid, Tianhao Tang
To cite this version:
Zhibin Zhou, Franck Scuiller, Jean Frédéric Charpentier, Mohamed Benbouzid, Tianhao Tang. An
up-to-date review of large marine tidal current turbine technologies. IEEE PEAC 2014, IEEE, Nov
2014, Shanghai, China. pp.448-484, �10.1109/PEAC.2014.7037903�. �hal-01120817�
An Up-to-Date Review of Large Marine Tidal
Current Turbine Technologies
Zhibin Zhou
1,2,3
, Franck Scuiller
1
, Jean Frédéric
Charpentier
1
1
French Naval Academy, EA 3634 IRENav,
Brest, France
Email: zhibin.zhou@ecole-navale.fr
Mohamed Benbouzid
2
and Tianhao Tang
3
2
University of Brest, EA 4325 LBMS, Brest, France
3
Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China
Email: Mohamed.Benbouzid@univ-brest.fr,
thtang@shmtu.edu.cn
Abstract—Owning to the predictability of tidal current
resources, marine tidal current energy is considered to be a
reliable and promising renewable power source for coastal areas
or some remote islands. During the last 10 years, various
original horizontal axis and vertical axis marine current
turbines (MCT) have been developed around the world.
Although various projects have been reported in the state-of-
the-art research papers in recent years, many of these projects
were only at the design stage when the papers were published. In
fact, some projects do not have any further developments during
the several years after the first reporting. In this paper, up-to-
date information about large tidal turbine projects over 500 kW
is focused. The newest achievements of these large tidal current
turbine technologies are presented. These technologies represent
the industrial solutions for several pre-commercial MCT farm
projects in the coming years. This paper provides a useful
background for researchers in the marine turbine energy
domain.
Keywords—Tidal current turbine, large machine, review.
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the main advantages of marine current energy is
related to the predictability of the resource. The astronomic
nature of tides is driven by the gravitational interaction of the
Earth-Moon-Sun system and makes marine tidal currents
highly predictable with 98% accuracy for decades [1]. There
are basically two ways of generating electricity from marine
tidal energies: either by building a tidal barrage across an
estuary or a bay, or by extracting energy from free flowing
tidal currents. The main drawback of the solution is that large
barrage system would change the hydrology and may have
negative impacts on the local ecosystem [2]. Therefore during
the last few decades, developers have shifted towards
technologies that capture the kinetic energy from tidal-driven
marine currents. The exploitable marine current energy with
present technologies is estimated about 75 GW in the world
and 11 GW in Europe [3].
In fact, various original horizontal axis and vertical axis
marine current turbines (MCT) have been developed around
the world in recent years [4-6]. The majority of MCT devices
are horizontal axis turbines with rotation axis parallel to the
This work is supported by Brest Métropole Océane (BMO) and the Shanghai
Maritime University.
current flow direction. The main disadvantages associated
with vertical axis turbines are relative low self-starting
capability, high torque fluctuations and generally lower
efficiency than horizontal axis turbine design. Currently, only
horizontal axis MCTs appear to be the most technologically
and economically solution for large-scale marine current
turbines with power capacity over 500 kW.
Although various turbine projects have been reported in
some state-of-the-art research papers, many of these projects
were only at the design stage when the papers were published
[4], [7]. However, some projects are abandoned or never have
been built, for instance, the Lunar Energy Tidal turbine. And
some projects do not have further developments during the
several years after the first announcement, such as Atlantis
Resource Nereus and Solon turbines. Therefore, an up-to-date
review of industrialized turbine technologies is necessary.
In this paper, up-to-date information and the newest
achievements of industrialized large tidal current turbine
technologies (over 500 kW) will be focused. In Section II, the
pilot pre-commercial MCT farms information and the
industrialized large turbine technologies are presented. The
conclusion and perspective are then given In Section III.
II. LARGE MARINE CURRENT TURBINE TECHNOLOGIES
Several horizontal axis turbine technologies are developed
more than one or two generations and have been chosen by
the industrial communities to realize pilot demonstrative
MCT farms before the final commercial stage. These projects
illustrate the up-to-date developments of large MCT
technologies which will provide electricity to coastal or
island areas in the coming years. Table I summarizes the
main information about some of these pilot MCT farm
projects and their planned/estimated operational dates. From
this table, it can be seen that most of these turbine
technologies have attended megawatt-level power capacity.
A. OpenHydro Turbine Technology
OpenHydro is an open-center turbine technology; a 250
kW prototype was installed and tested at European Marine
Energy Center (EMEC) off Orkney islands in Scotland and
was connected to the UK national grid in 2008. This turbine
TABLE I
PILOT MCT FARMS IN THE COMING YEARS [3], [8-10].
Companies
Location
Turbine Name
Pitchable
Blades
Turbine
Number
Total Capacity
(MW)
Operational
Year
DCNS, EDF
Paimpol-Bréhat
OpenHydro
No
4
2
2014/2015
MeyGen
Pentland Firth
(Scotland)
HS1000
Yes
6
6
2015/2016
or AR1000
No
MCT, Siemens
Kyle Rhea
(Scotland)
SeaGen S
Yes
4
8
2015
Anglesey (Wales)
SeaGen S
Yes
5
10
2015
Andritz Hydro
Hammerfest
Sound of Islay
(Scotland)
HS1000
Yes
10
10
N/A
GDF Suez, Eole
Generation
Raz Blanchard
Voith Hytide
No
3~6
3~12
2016
Fromveur
Sabella
No
N/A
N/A
2016
technology has been chosen by the French companies EDF
and DCNS to build a demonstrative MCT farm off the coast
of Paimpol-Bréhat in Brittany, France. The first 500 kW
OpenHydro turbine (Fig. 1) was tested in September 2011
near Brest. This 850 tonnes turbine has a diameter of 16 m
and is supposed to be installed at a depth of 35 meters. This
technology uses multi-blades fixed between the open-center
rim and the outside shell in a rim-driven configuration. The
permanent synchronous generator is integrated into the
outside rim shell. The planed MCT farm with 4 turbines is
reported to be in operation in 2014 [10]. However, some
delays in the final farm operation could still be envisaged.
B. HS1000 and AR1000 Turbine Technologies
The 1MW pre-commercial turbine HS1000 (Fig. 2) was
tested by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest (original Hammerfest
Strøm) at EMEC tidal test site at the end of 2011. It started
delivering energy to the grid in 2012. The HS1000 turbine is
based on the technology of a smaller prototype HS300 (300
kW, reported as E-Tide turbine project in [6-7]) which was
installed in Norway and connected to the public grid in 2004.
This megawatt-level HS1000 turbine technology is planed to
be used in a 10 MW commercial array in the Sound of Islay
on the west coast of Scotland; the tidal resource and seabed
surveys are completed [13]. This technology is also reported
to be chosen in the first phase of the MeyGen tidal current
project in Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth [9].
Another candidate for the MeyGen project is the AR1000
turbine (Fig. 3) technology developed by Atlantis Resources
Corporation [14]. The Atlantis AR1000 turbine features fixed
pitch configuration and is rated at 1 MW at 2.65 m/s current
velocity. The AR1000 can be rotated in the slack period
between tides using a yaw drive for optimally facing the tides.
The first AR1000 was successfully deployed and tested at the
EMEC facility during the summer of 2011. The AR1000
system is also scheduled to be installed on Daishan
demonstration site in China during 2014. A larger turbine
called AR1500 (1.5 MW at 3.0 m/s) is under development for
future installation in the Pentland Firth in Scotland and the
Bay of Fundy in Canada.
Fig. 1. DCNS-OpenHydro turbine © [11].
Fig. 2. Andritz Hydro Hammerfest HS1000 turbine © [12].
C. SeaGen S Turbine Technology
The SeaGen S turbine (showed in Fig. 4) developed by
Marine Current Turbine Ltd. (owned by Siemens since 2012)
is a well-known system that can generate electricity from
marine current energy. This technology has a twin axial-flow
turbine supported on a structure with the ability to raise the
moving components out of the water for maintenance [16]. It
is the world first grid-connected megawatt-level MCT system.
The 1.2 MW SeaGen S system (2×600 kW) was installed in
Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland in 2008 and has
generated 8 GWh electricity since the installation. During a
strong spring tide, the SeaGen S system can deliver more than
20 MWh in a single day. It is reported that up-scaled SeaGen
S systems with 20 meter rotor and 2 MW power rating will be
installed in two commercial arrays in UK waters (as listed in
Table 1) from 2015.
D. Voith Hydro Turbine Technology
French energy company GDF Suez has plans to install
pilot tidal energy farms at Raz Blanchard off the coast of
Lower Normandy and in the Fromveur passage off the coast
of Finistère in Brittany. These two sites represent 80% of the
marine current energy potential in France [17]. For the Raz
Blanchard project, GDF Suez has recently confirmed to use
Voith Hydro HyTide turbine and Alstom tidal turbine
technology. The Voith Hydro turbine system (shown in Fig. 5)
is developed by German hydropower equipment maker Voith
Company. The first test turbine of 110 kW has been in
operation near the South Korean island of Jindo since 2011.
The up-scaled version of 1 MW turbine is now installed and
tested at EMEC tidal test site.
The Voith Hydro turbine adopts robust design: it uses
fixed-pitch blades and permanent magnet synchronous
generator to achieve compact structure. Specially designed
symmetric blade profile can be operated for bidirectional tidal
currents avoiding pitch and yaw requirements. The nacelle
system uses seawater lubrication technology to avoid grease
and seals for the bearings. The electrical machine is protected
from corrosion and marine fouling by proven coatings and
sacrificial anodes. The low-maintenance characteristics
makes the estimated system lifetime up to 20 years [18]. The
1 MW turbine has a rotor diameter of 16 m and reaches the
rated power at a current velocity of 2.9 m/s.
E. Sabella Turbine Technology
One of the potential MCT applications is to provide
electricity for remote islands not connected to the continental
electric grid. As example, in the near future, several MCTs
are planed to be installed in the Fromveur passage (near Brest)
in France to supply part of the load demand of Ouessant
Island. For the Fromveur project, the Sabella tidal turbine
technology will be used [19]. The Sabella D10 turbines have
a rotor diameter of 10 m and a power capacity of 0.5~1.1
MW for 3.0~4.0 m/s current velocities. Figure 6 illustrates the
perspective Sabella turbine farm. The Sabella D10 is based
on the first French marine current turbine Sabella D03 (3 m
rotor diameter) which was tested at Bénodet estuary near
Brest in 2008. The prototype D10 turbine is now completing
the construction and is scheduled to be installed in the
Fromveur passage at the end of 2014. Larger turbines D12
and D15 with power capacities of 1~2 MW are under design
for future turbine farm applications [19-20].
Fig. 3. Atlantis AR1000 turbine © [14].
Fig. 4. SeaGen S turbine © [15].
Fig. 5. Voith Hydro turbine © [18].
Fig. 6. Sabella turbine farm illustration © [20].
F. Alstom Tidal Turbine Technologies
In 2010, Alstom announced a 1 MW turbine project
named Beluga 9 for deployment in Canada's Bay of Fundy in
2012 [21]. Beluga 9 was a joint project with Canadian
company Clean Current. It was intended for very powerful
currents (up to 4.5 m/s) and for sites with depths of 30 meters
or more. However, with the termination of the licensing
agreements with Clean Current at the end of 2012, there is no
further news about this megawatt turbine project. Clean
Current has decided to focus on river turbines and shallower
water tidal turbines (< 20 meters). While Alstom’s intention
is to pursue the larger utility scale opportunities [22].
In 2013, Alstom successfully installed a 1 MW tidal
current turbine at EMEC tidal test site after the acquisition of
Tidal Generation Limited (TGL) [23-24]. Figure 7 shows the
Alstom’s 1 MW tidal turbine system. This tidal turbine
weighs 150 tonnes and has three pitchable blades, a rotor
diameter of 18 m and a nacelle length of 22 m. A standard
drive train and power electronics device is inside the nacelle.
This turbine system can be installed in a water depth between
35 and 80 meters. It can generate electricity with a tidal
current between 1 m/s and 3.4 m/s, and reaches the rated
power for a tidal current speed of 2.7 m/s. This 1 MW Alstom
tidal turbine is under extensive testing and analysis in
different operational conditions off Orkney islands
throughout 2013 over an 18 month period.
Fig. 7. Alstom tidal turbine © [23].
Although the Alstom’s 1 MW tidal current turbine seems
similar to a standard wind turbine system (with three
pitchable blades and gearbox-integrated drive train), this tidal
turbine have some special characteristics. Its buoyancy
enables the turbine to be easily installed and retrieved by
using small vessels, thus reducing the installation and
maintenance costs. It has an intelligent nacelle which can be
rotated by the water thrusts to orientate the turbine system to
face the tide direction; that enables the system to harness
energy efficiently from both ebb and flood tides
III. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
The turbines presented above represent the newest
achievements in the megawatt-level marine current turbine
technologies. The comment point is that they are all
horizontal axis turbine. And it should be noted that more than
half of these turbine technologies adopt the fixed pitch
solution for the blades.
In addition to these industrialized large turbine
technologies, there are other megawatt turbine projects under
development. For example, the TidalStream Triton
technology mounts several turbines on a semi-submersible
buoying platform to achieve high power harness capacity.
The 1/23rd scale and 1/10th scale turbines (Triton T6 and
Triton T3) were successfully tested in 2009 and 2011
respectively [25]. The first full-scale version Triton T36
system (with 2.5 MW power rating) is planned to be built at
the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) tidal
test site in Nova Scotia, Canada.
It should be noted that in FORCE, there are also several
megawatt-level current turbine plans which are strongly
related to the turbine technologies presented in this paper.
High tidal current speed (up to 5.5m/s) and Nova Scotia's
feed-in-tariff make FORCE one of the most attractive and
economic tidal sites in the world [26-27]. Siemens and
Bluewater are jointly developing a 2 MW floating tidal
current turbine, called SeaGen F, to be installed in Bay of
Fundy and it will supply electricity for 1,800 Nova Scotia
households. OpenHydro, the DCNS tidal subsidiary, will
proceed with plans for a grid-connected 4 MW tidal array to
be installed at FORCE in later 2015. This array will consist of
two 2 MW turbines with 16 m rotor diameters.
REFERENCES
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[2] R. Pelc, R.M. Fujita, “Renewable energy from the ocean”, Marine
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[3] H. Boye, E. Caquot, P. Clement et al., “Rapport de la mission d’étude
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[4] F.O. Rourke, F. Boyle, A. Reynolds, “Marine current energy devices:
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![Fig. 5. Voith Hydro turbine © [18].](/figures/fig-5-voith-hydro-turbine-c-18-2duv148l.webp)
![Fig. 1. DCNS-OpenHydro turbine © [11].](/figures/fig-1-dcns-openhydro-turbine-c-11-1xidfzim.webp)
![Fig. 2. Andritz Hydro Hammerfest HS1000 turbine © [12].](/figures/fig-2-andritz-hydro-hammerfest-hs1000-turbine-c-12-2wa49hhl.webp)
![Fig. 6. Sabella turbine farm illustration © [20].](/figures/fig-6-sabella-turbine-farm-illustration-c-20-2gtvaahi.webp)
![Fig. 7. Alstom tidal turbine © [23].](/figures/fig-7-alstom-tidal-turbine-c-23-jwsb9wsc.webp)