Renewables boost as Lunar Energy seals £500m deal

A LEADING player in the Scottish renewables market has signed a landmark £500 million deal to create a 300 turbine tidal power field off the South Korean coast.

Lunar Energy, which is registered in Glasgow, has sealed a joint venture agreement with the Korean Midland Power Company, one of the country’s three main power generation businesses, to develop the massive tidal power plant in the Wando Hoenggan waterway off the South Korean coast.

It will produce enough energy to power 200,000 Korean homes by the time the scheme is completed in December 2015.

Last year, the company joined forces with E.ON UK, the company which runs Powergen, to announce pioneering plans to develop a subsea tidal stream power farm off the west coast of Britain by the end of 2009.

The proposed scheme will use tidal streams – fastmoving currents created by rising and falling tides – to turn an array of eight massive turbines, each more than 20 metres high and sited on the sea floor up to 120m below the surface.

The underwater power system will be capable of generating up to 8MW of electricity, enough power to supply 5,000 homes.

But the scheme in South Korea will be one of the biggest tidal energy schemes ever developed across the globe.

The fabrication and installation of the tidal turbines will be carried out by Hyundai Heavy Industries, while Rotech Engineering, an Aberdeenbased research and development company with considerable expertise in the offshore oil and gas industries, will provide the specialist components.

William Law, the chairman of Lunar Energy said: "I am delighted to announce this joint venture, which will combine the subsea engineering skills of Rotech with the known fabrication expertise of Hyundai. It is also a testament to the forwardthinking management of Korean Midland Power that they have seen the potential in this UK technology both for their company and Korea itself.

"Lunar’s leading role gives a British company massive potential to exploit the rollout of tidal energy worldwide."

A company spokesman added: "It is intended that full resource research and feasibility be completed by July of this year with the installation of a 1MW pilot plant by March 2009.

"Each one megawatt unit has a turbine diameter of 11.5m and a fully ballasted weight in excess of 2500 tons. Rotech tidal turbines can be easily grouped to suit tidal streams in locations worldwide.

"Lunar Energy is at the forefront in developing an economical and viable submerged tidal turbine with the aim of producing reliable renewable energy in an unobtrusive manner.

"This latest contract emphasises the increasing recognition by the worldwide power generation industry that tidal stream currents represent a significant renewable energy resource that is predictable, invisible and economic."