With a nameplate capacity of 600kW, the helical Flumill 2 (F2) will be the smallest of the company’s commercial tidal systems, rated at as low as 120kW in the 1.5 metre-per-second (m/s) current that passes through Emec’s Shapinsay Sound “nursery”, where it was installed in September.
Flumill’s turbine has a unique look. Using a design adapted from excess-flow valves found in gas-distribution systems, the seabed-mounted device draws power out of the current as it moves up the spiral of the glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) screw, turning a gearless permanentmagnet generator (PMG).
The
