Tide turns as company harnesses sea-power

The latest contender is TidEl, a tidal generator designed and built by SMD Hydrovision, in Newcastle.

The firm is the world's largest independent manufacturer of sub-sea vehicles, but this is its first venture into renewable energy.

Project manager Ralph Manchester, who came up with the concept, said: "The TidEl unit had a lot of synergy with what we do. It is a high-powered piece of kit which has got to work underwater."

The machine is moored to the sea bed, but the generator is free to move with the direction of the tide.

Mr Manchester said: "It is a bit like flying a kite. The only difference is, it is buoyant, so is completely stable."

He has spent almost three years on the project. A 1:10 scale model, partly funded by the Department for Trade and Industry, has sailed through a seven-week trial at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) in Blyth, Northumberland.

"The DTI doesn't fund research for research's sake at this level. They are trying to ensure that UK plc has an industry in this field. In terms of available resources, this is the best place in the world to develop this sort of product," said Mr Manchester.

Last week, TidEl won a national Innovation Award from the Carbon Trust.

It places SMD among the nation's leading public and private sector bodies working to reduce carbon emissions and help combat climate change.

The firm plans to have a full size TidEl prototype in the water next year. This will have two, counter-rotating turbines, each with a diameter of 18 metres.

At present, the design favoured for tidal power is pile-mounted turbines, effectively giant windmills driven into the sea bed.

Mr Manchester said: "All these systems have basically come out of wind technology, rather than offshore technology. They are limited in their depth range. At least 56 per cent of UK water depths are outside their range.

"We have designed our unit to be applicable to the majority of the resource, so are going for a bigger market segment."

It will have up to a 50 per cent yield; a 1 megawatt turbine should produce half a megawatt.

While this is competitive with existing tidal generators, TidEl offers other advantages.

"Because it is moored, it can be raised and towed ashore, rather than trying to do maintenance in a hostile marine environment," said Mr Manchester.

Using a submerged system would also circumvent growing public opposition towards offshore developments.

He said: "In terms of visual impact, it will have a huge benefit, because it is underwater.

"You could take pictures before and after and play spot the difference The fact that it is submerged also means there is no collision risk for ships."

And because it sits on the sea bed, the system does not have to be withstand the storm conditions that occur on the surface.

Managing director John Reece, who has been with the firm for more than 21 years, said: "Tidal turbine development is a completely new product in what is, hopefully, an emerging market. It is a big step for us outside our core business, but is quite closely related, in that it is high-powered, underwater machinery."

SMD makes specialist sub-sea equipment for the defence, oil and gas sectors.

Mr Manchester joined in 1996 as the family-owned firm began to capitalise on a boom in the telecoms market.

Orders rolled in for its ploughs, which have buried more than 200,000km of telephone and power cable around the world.

At the peak of the boom in 2001, the company turned over nearly £50m and employed more than 150 staff. About 90 per cent of revenue was from telecoms.

This came to an end when the market collapsed.

SMD had to restructure and the bulk of the workforce was laid off. Figures for turnover in 2004 are being audited, but it is expected to be around £12m. The firm employs 35 people.

Mr Reece said: "It is operating with a healthy margin and we have got back to being a stable company."

Originally called Soil Machine Dynamics, it was formed in 1971, to manufacture Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), sub-sea tractors and pipeline ploughs. It bought Aberdeen firm Hydrovision in 2003 and moved its entire operations in-house.

Mr Reece said: "It has proved a successful acquisition, that has brought us a lot of new products and customers."

Last year, it made the world's biggest pipeline plough, a 170-tonne rig for Darlington-based CTC Marine now installing a North Sea British Gas pipeline.

It also recently won an order from QinetiQ, to provide a ROV to a submarine testing range in Scotland.

While tidal power is a new arm of the business, it could play a major part in years to come.

Mr Reece said: "There is no existing market for tidal turbines but. we know how we could easily put hundreds, or even thousands, around the UK."

Each farm would require at least 50 units to make it economical, at an cost of £60m. Roughly half of that would be capital costs.

Mr Reece said: "This means a single tidal farm would generate about £30m of business on Tyneside. If it is a success, it could also create quite a lot of employment on the river."

SMD owns the Turbinia Works in Wallsend, North Tyneside, where the world's first steam turbine powered ships were built

Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884 and launched Turbinia ten years later. His turbine-making firm, Parsons, had a workforce of thousands in its heyday.

It is now part of the Siemens Power Generation group, but manufacture of entire turbines on Tyneside ceased in 2002.

Mr Reece said: "We would like to build tidal turbines on the River Tyne and it would be really nice to build them in the Turbinia Works. It could see modern, 21st Century turbines built in a place that has a lot of history."