Certification services giant DNV GL and the UK's Energy Technololgies Institute (ETI) have this week debuted a new set of specifications for the design and operation of tidal turbines and arrays.
The Tidal Turbine Service Specification, first unveiled in November, will apply to all underwater tidal turbines aims to help tidal turbine and array developers, alongside investors, insurers and regulatory authorities, by issuing an industry standard.
"The need for a standard to manage risk and support commercialisation was identified in the very early stages of the tidal turbine industry development," said Claudio Bittencourt, DNV GL's wave and tidal business development director, in a statement.
The standards are based on the outputs from the marine technology programme run by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), in particular its ReDAPT (Reliable Data Acquisition Platform for Tidal) project, which deployed and tested a buoyant tidal generator at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
"Through the foresight of the ETI and their commitment to support this through the ReDAPT project DNV GL was able to rapidly develop a tidal turbine servicespecification and standard built on a solid technical foundation," said Bittencourt.
The standards apply to both fixed and floating tidal turbines, with specifications covering machinery and safety.
It is hoped the standards could also promote opportunities to bridge the gap between initial prototypes and commercial production, by offering type certification which could help turbine developers embark on serial production of turbines for sale to multiple customers.
"Although the tidal industry is still in its infancy it is evolving all the time and the new standards mean that there is a set of certification guidelines now in place," said Paul Trinick, marine project manager for ETI, in a statement.
The British tidal industry has had a turbulent few months, after Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that his enthusiasm for tidal technology is "waning", amidst concerns about the cost of the power todal arrays produce.
However, advocates of the technology maintain costs will fall as larger arrays come online, while some environmental campaigners maintain the tidal generators could deliver large scale and predictable low carbon power supplies.
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