A north of Scotland engineering company has developed a revolutionary renewable power turbine which is set to be demonstrated on Brazil’s mighty Amazon River.
Caithness firm MTDS have designed a unique device to capture energy from slow flowing rivers – an untapped commercial market across the world – and minimise any environmental impacts.
MTDS owner and design engineer James Mowat has spent three years developing the turbine which bucks conventional tidal designs – often resembling ‘underwater windmills’ – by instead using vertical rotors, like revolving doors.
Now the company is set to build a full-scale version for the 12-month demonstration project on the Amazon.
Advantages include its ability to extract power from previously unviable slow water currents, cheaper manufacturing, easier installation, low maintenance and much easier grid connections than for ocean environments.
Because the turbine’s blades move at about the same speed as the current – unlike conventional rotors that slice across the water flow – efficiency is maximised and potential marine life impacts are reduced or removed. With no need to dam rivers and estuaries, as needed for other turbines, habitat disturbance is minimised.
The components of the full-scale prototype, at nearly 50 tonnes and nearly 20-feet wide, are to be manufactured in Caithness, then shipped to Brazil and built and installed by the Scottish team by late 2010.
The Amazon was selected in partnership with a major energy-related organisation in Brazil, where oil companies often have to use generators to power their own operations and local communities, but are looking to cut fuel-shipping costs and environmental impacts.
After up to a year of operational and environmental monitoring, MTDS’s South American project partner, will retain the rights to license the device in Brazil, while the Scottish company will then market it elsewhere.
“There is huge potential for riverside villages and towns without access to sufficient power, or requiring green energy,” said Mr Mowat. “Prime markets range from Chile and Uruguay, through China, India and Russia.”
A scale model turbine has performed successfully in controlled trails and the full-scale version will now be built and tested to verify the power output. Despite its size, it will be smaller and many times lighter than other tidal turbines, allowing easier transport and installation.
Mr Mowat’s company employs 36 people and building the first turbine will employ an estimated 24 people for three months. “Further turbines for distant countries are likely to be built closer to their installation sites but we can build them here, for use in Britain and Europe, at the rate of between 12 to 24 units a year, creating major new local employment,” said Mr Mowat.
MTDS has developed through providing high-tech design and manufacture of components, structures, instrumentation and control systems for the oil and gas and nuclear industries. Now it is diversifing to meet opportunities in the fast-growing renewable energy sector.
“We saw the opportunity to apply the same high skill and innovation levels to take a lead in a growing sector with huge economic and environmental benefits,” said Mr Mowat, whose research and development on the new turbine has been assisted by regional development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Mr Mowat added: “This turbine can be used in previously unviable rivers and estuaries anywhere in the world, as well as faster marine tidal sites, and we are also looking at its use below existing hydro dams and in bridges, causeways and piers.
“Meantime, we are also talking to other potential partners about another full-scale river demonstration project here in Britain.”