Thee partners in China installed a tidal-stream turbine with a diameter bigger than the length of a tractor trailer. The turbine is the pilot project, which could be the first step towards larger-scale production.
Simec Atlantis Energy Ltd., China Shipbuilding Industry Company Ltd. and China Three Gorges Corp joined their forces for the pilot project.
According to Bloomberg, the 18-meter (59 feet) turbine was manufactured in Wuhan and was placed last week in the waters between two islands in the Zhoushan archipelago, south of Shanghai.
With this move China aims to industrialize production which may significantly reduce the technology’s price tag, keeping in mind that turbines that harness the tides to generate electricity have struggled to compete on cost with solar and wind farms.
Although developers of tidal stream projects have reported that the technology could be a renewable power source that’s more reliable than wind and sunshine, BloombergNEF saw last year that only 12 megawatts of the projects were developed worldwide, a fraction of the wind and solar installations put in each year.
The shipping industry is generally taking more steps to include renewable energy in the majority of its projects. In early 2019, a report by Market Research Engine revealed that wave and tidal energy market was valued at USD 487.7 million in 2014 and is anticipated to reach USD 11,365 million in 2024, expanding at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 23% from 2016 to 2024, according to a report by Market Research Engine.
