As reported in The Cornishman/West Briton http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Cornish-firms-work-pioneering-turbine/st...

Cornwall firms win bid to work on Wave Hub

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Cornishman

 

TWO Cornish companies have won the international contract to work on a £4 million project to develop a floating wind turbine at Wave Hub – the renewable energy test facility ten miles off the Hayle coast.

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) had confirmed that Wave Hub had been chosen as its preferred location to develop a floating offshore wind turbine that could be visible from shore.

Wave Hub could host the project as early as 2015 and it would remain in place for 8 to 10 years.

Porthtowan-based KeynMorLift (KML) and Penryn-based LDD have been granted contracts to work on the installation of a six megawatt wind turbine off the Hayle coast for the ETI. They were appointed as part of the £4 million Front End Engineering Study commissioned and funded by the ETI and expected to be completed by the end of the year. The ETI will then decide whether to invest up to £21 million in the construction and deployment of the demonstrator project, which would occupy one of Wave Hub's four berths. The ETI and US contractors Glosten confirmed the firms won the contract to carry out studies for anchoring and subsea installation.

KML specialises in shoreline, coastal and offshore marine operations, operating from Porthtowan and Falmouth. LDD is a worldwide offshore drilling and specialist marine construction contractor.

Wave Hub managing director Claire Gibson said: "We are delighted that KML and LDD have been chosen by Glosten.

"It is testimony to the experience we have in the marine engineering sector in Cornwall, in a competitive global marketplace."

Nikki Meek, business and project development manager for KML, said: "We were able to put together a bid which reflected the complementary skills and experience our companies can offer.

"We'll be jointly carrying out a feasibility study into the anchoring and installation works."

LDD vice-president Mark Richards said: "As a Cornish- based company that usually works internationally, we're passionate about delivering success to this exciting project at the Cornish Wave Hub site."

Wave Hub is a giant "socket" on the seabed connected to the National Grid on shore by an underwater cable, into which up to four different wave energy devices can be "plugged" and tested at any one time.

It has a capacity of 20MW, equivalent to the electricity needs of more than 7,000 homes. Wave Hub is owned by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which has set up a stand-alone operating company, Wave Hub Limited, based in Hayle, to manage the testing facility.

The plan is to investigate whether floating wind farms could play a cost-effective role in meeting the UK's future energy needs.