By Pam McClounie

Last updated 13:45, Tuesday, 19 August 2008

THE world’s first commercial-scale tidal turbine – which was designed and built by Bendalls Engineering in Carlisle – has delivered electricity into the National Grid for the first time.

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Norman Addison: Advantages of tidal energy

The turbine – dubbed SeaGen – stands in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough, a few miles from Belfast.

But the day after its launch a programming fault damaged one of the blades.

Seagen is calling it a “minor hiccup” – but the date for supplying full power has now slipped into early autumn at the earliest.

Seagen sits 400m offshore between Strangford and Portaferry to take advantage of strong tidal forces.

It was installed in May and the plan was that it would be fully operational by the end of the summer. By then the firm owning it, Marine Current Turbines, said it would generate 1.2 megawatts of electricity.

Bendalls, which operates from the Kingstown Industrial Estate in Carlisle, worked on the £8.5million machine’s top platform and lifting mechanism.

As well as the design and manufacture of the platform and lifting device, Bendalls sub-contracted work to Dalston-based firm Lawson Engineers.

The engineers were commissioned to design and build the controls and hydraulic system for the lifting mechanism.

The lift leg assembly is unique to the machine and will allow the crossbar holding the rotors to be lifted out of the water when required.

The SeaGen project, which is supported by the Department for Trade and Industry, follows on from Bendalls’ involvement in the Seaflow project – a 300kw prototype that has been running in the Bristol Channel since 2003.

Norman Addison, from Bendalls, said tidal energy has advantages over wind power because it is more consistent and energy efficient.

He said: “Unlike wind, you can predict when it comes and the dynamics of a fluid stream – as opposed to an air stream – mean the rotor blades are half the size of wind turbine rotors.

“It’s also out of sight – all you see is the top sticking out of the water which is the mooring buoy.

“And studies have shown the turbines satisfy strict environmental standards. The rotors turn at 17rpm which means they have negligible impact on marine life.”

Secretary of State for Energy, John Hutton said: “This kind of technology and innovation is key to helping the UK reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and secure its future energy supplies.

“Marine power has the potential to play an important role in helping us meet our challenging targets for a massive increase in the amount of energy generated from renewables.