Atlantis Resources Corporation has unveiled the largest and most powerful tidal power turbine ever built. It is due for installation at a dedicated berth at the European Marine Energy Centre, located in Orkney, Scotland later this summer.

Atlantis Resources Corporation was founded in Singapore but developed its technology in Australia were it has been operating its own dedicated tidal power test facility in San Remo, Victoria, since 2006.

The test facility dispatches power directly to grid, giving Atlantis’ technical teams the opportunity to develop and test their turbines in a real world environment. Atlantis has had a Nereus turbine installed continuously for the past 12 months allowing R&D to be completed on control systems, grid connection software and hardware, material science, system health monitoring, remote monitoring, diagnostics and control, power train optimisation and resource analysis.

The AN-400 installed at San Remo, Victoria

Australian Cleantech has released a report titled "Prosperous Sustainability" which forecasts the development of energy technologies in Australia up to 2050.

The main findings of the report include:

• Current wind technology will maintain a high level of activity through to about 2015, after which it starts to be replaced by second generation wind technologies. There will be no further installation of current technology wind after 2022.
  Second generation wind may consist to vertical axis or Darrieus turbines or other improvements on the current large scale horizontal axis turbines. This technology is forecast to take over from the existing wind technology progressively from 2015, increasing in activity through to about 2025 but reducing to low level of ongoing activity by 2035.
• Small-scale solar rooftop is forecast to increase in activity through to 2012 driven by feed-in tariffs. It will then reduce, finally becoming obsolete by 2020 as other solar technologies become more economic.
  Building integrated solar is forecast to continue to grow through to the end of the forecast period as applications continue to be extended from roofs and windows to a greater variety of surfaces.
• Large scale solar concentrating is not predicted roll out until 2018 but it will be to a major component of the industry by 2050, although down from its peak in the late 2020s.
• Geothermal is forecast to start to become significant from 2015 with an increase in the roll out in the 2030s as technology improvements increase its efficiency.
• Wave and tidal power are expected to grow through to about 2030, after which they start to decline in importance as other technologies, with fewer mechanical parts, emerge as cheaper options. By 2050, they are seen as only having niche application in some  specific geographic situations.
• First generation biofuels is expected to have steady activity on a global basis through to 2012, after which it will go into decline as it is replaced by gen-2 biofuels using algae and cellulosic technologies. Once these technologies have been proven, they are forecast to experience growth through to 2025 and then to remain steady for 10 years before going into decline with only niche uses of biofuels by 2050.
• Energy efficiency and green building are forecast to be a major part of the solution and to continue to grow and innovate throughout the entire period with a continuing focus on reducing energy requirements and using more sustainable materials.
• The smart grid is forecast to expand throughout the period with large capital projects as old grids are progressively upgraded. Widespread roll-out will begin 2012 and will significantly expand in the 2020s. There are likely to be many iterations of what is considered ‘smart’ in a grid and it is only towards the end of the forecast period that it might become fully interactive.
• The major roll out of battery electric vehicles is expected to commence in 2012 and continue to grow throughout the forecast period.
• Carbon equestration is forecast to have only modest activity throughout the period driven by the need for carbon offsetting projects. It is not forecast to grow as many of the other technologies will start to become cost competitive and there will consequently be a decreasing level of carbon to be offset.
• Hydrogen, nuclear fusion and other new technologies may become significant parts of the equation after 2030.

A copy of the report may be purchased from www.auscleantech.com.au/ACT_Reports.html

New Zealand’s Environment Court has made a positive recommendation to Conservation Minister, Tim Groser, on a proposal from Crest Energy to generate electricity from Kaipara Harbour.

Kaipara Harbour is New Zealand’s largest harbour and is on the west coast just north of Auckland. The project would be the first in New Zealand using tidal flow to generate electricity.

Crest Energy is seeking to build a 200-megawatt tidal power plant at the mouth of the harbour. The system could be generating power by next year with Phase One of the project producing 20MW from an initial installation of 20 turbines. 

Eventually, the power plant would have 200 turbines and could provide up to 4 per cent of the country’s power.

Each turbine would be 24 metres high but would be 6 metres under water at low tide. About 8000 million cubic metres of water pass in and out of the harbour each day, and Crest Energy says Kaipara Harbour is one of the best sites in the world to generate substantial amounts of tidal electricity.

The Environment Court said that the Crest Energy proposal still needed further work to satisfy concerns about the turbines interfering with the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin and the important snapper fishery.

According to Hans-Josef Fell, Australia has the potential to become the world leader in ocean energy. Mr Fell is one of the politicians responsible for the German renewable energy laws which led to that country becoming a leader in solar and wind energy.

in an address to the West Australian Sustainable Energy Association, he said “I believe Australia could become a market leader in ocean energy production. You have big potential in sea currents, waves and tidal and sea temperature differences, You could become the market leader in five or six years in this area for all the world.”

“In 2000 in Germany, we set a target to double the share of renewable energy by 2010 – from six to 12 per cent. Nearly no one believed that this was achievable. But at the end of 2007, we reached 14 per cent, a much higher figure in a shorter time.” He said the next goal in Germany is for renewables to reach up to 30 per cent of all power use by 2015, and possibly 50 per cent by 2020.

He said that a good political framework is necessary to help reduce the cost of technology and allow it to come into mass production. “The best framework is a feed-in tariff. A feed-in tariff gives the private capital the secure (framework) for profitable investment” he said.

Hydro Tasmania has signed a deal with Sydney-based company BioPower Systems to conduct trials of its BioWave technology on King Island and its Biostream tidal-current system on Flinders Island with a view to generating 250kW of electricity to power the 500 homes on both Bass Strait islands by next year.

BioStream technology mimics the movements of shark, tuna and mackerel but fixed in a moving stream. The resulting motion generates power.

BioWave is based on the swaying motion of sea plants in the presence of waves. The motion of oscillating blades produces power.

BioPower Systems Chief Executive Officer, Tim Finnigan, said that the ocean power could be provided at the same cost as the islands’ existing power supplies.