Princess Royal attends launch of project to better harness tidal power

The Princess Royal has attended the launch of a project which aims to develop the world’s largest tidal power blades.

Anne, who is also chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, met staff at the institution’s testing facility for the £8.7 million MAXBlade project.

With funding from the European Union and UK Research and Innovation, it aims to deliver a range of innovations to improve the performance of tidal power devices and reduce their cost.

Research by the university’s Institute of Energy Systems has estimated that as much as £40 billion could be generated for the UK economy by harnessing wave and tidal energy.

MAXBlade aims to increase the length of the turbine blades from 10 to 13 metres – making them the longest of their kind in the world.

The team carrying out the work hopes this will have the single greatest impact on reducing the cost of tidal energy.

Anne was at the university’s FastBlade facility on Tuesday for the launch of the project – which aims to increase the area Scottish tidal power firm Orbital Marine Power uses to generate energy by 70% to more than 1,000 square metres.

A two-year design and development phase is planned, followed by a further 18 months of work to build the new, larger blades.

These will then be trialled at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, where two Orbital Marine Power floating platforms – which are already the world’s most powerful tidal turbines – will be fitted with the blades.

Andrew Scott, chief executive at Orbital Marine Power, said: “Orbital is delighted to be involved with so many great partners on this truly cutting-edge project.

“MAXBlade will help deliver tidal energy into a future, low-carbon energy mix at lower costs while, at the same time, position UK and European businesses to benefit from long-term industrial opportunities that will come from this new, sustainable industry.”

Professor Conchur O Bradaigh, the chair of materials engineering at Edinburgh University, said they are delighted to be a partner in the MAXBlade project.

He added: “This will help the tidal energy industry to de-risk their ongoing turbine developments and provide low-cost, reliable renewable energy to the grid.”