Tidal turbine contract for shipyard - graduate jobs

A new tidal turbine prototype coming up at Scotland, if successfully tested, could give a boost to the renewable energy sector and create green graduate engineering jobs.

Harland and Wolff shipyard has secured a contract to build the test version of a new tidal turbine in the Scottish islands for Orkney-based Scotrenewables (Marine Power) Ltd.

The deal involves building a 30m-long turbine, which will use two 8m diameter rotors to generate 250kw of power from the tide.

Harland and Wolff engineering manager Fred Black said: "Our input was to assist their engineers to develop the design to make it production friendly. This makes it cheaper and enhances quality."

Scotrenewables project leader Mark Hamilton said: "This is a great achievement for us and is testament to the hard work and dedication of all the team. There is a lot of hard work left to do in proving the long-term viability of our technology but testing to date has produced very promising results.

"The market for our technology both in the UK and worldwide is huge - we aim to be at the forefront of the future tidal energy industry."

The SR250 prototype - which weighs 80 tonnes - will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre test facility in the Orkneys.