Bluemull Sound is the strait between Unst and Yell in Shetland's North Isles. A ferry service crosses it regularly. Cullivoe is on the Yell side, and the island of Linga lies in the strait.
The Sound was referred to as "Blumel sound" in early 1800 nautical references [1] [2] It was later referred to as Bluemull Sound in 1865. [3] It is unclear why there is such a discrepancy in the name.
The "world's first community-owned tidal power generator" became operational in Bluemull Sound in April 2014. The turbine is a 30 kW Nova Innovation device, owned by the North Yell Development Council [4] and was connected to the local grid by 1 km subsea cable; helping power an ice house and up to 30 local homes. It has since been decommissioned.
Nova Innovation installed a 100 kW tidal turbine that was grid connected in August 2016, [5] followed by two further turbines later that year. A fourth turbine was added in 2020, and two further turbines in January 2023 making it the largest number of turbines in a tidal-stream array. [6] However, the three oldest turbines were removed just months later at the end of the EnFAIT project [7] leaving the array at just 0.3 MW.
A strait is a water body connecting two seas or two water basins. While the landform generally constricts the flow, the surface water still flows, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in both directions. In some straits there may be a dominant directional current through the strait. Most commonly, it is a narrowing channel that lies between two land masses. Some straits are not navigable, for example because they are either too narrow or too shallow, or because of an unnavigable reef or archipelago. Straits are also known to be loci for sediment accumulation. Usually, sand-size deposits occur on both the two opposite strait exits, forming subaqueous fans or deltas.
Cook Strait is a strait that separates North Island from the South Island of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point, and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world. Regular ferry services run across the strait between Picton in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington.
Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods.
Yell is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland. In the 2011 census it had a usually resident population of 966. It is the second largest island in Shetland after the Mainland with an area of 82 square miles (212 km2), and is the third most populous in the archipelago, after the Mainland and Whalsay.
Uyea is an uninhabited island, lying south of Unst in Shetland, Scotland.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
Verdant Power, Inc is a maker and installer of tidal power and hydroelectric systems. Their primary device is an underwater turbine, similar to a three-bladed wind turbine, that is designed to capture energy from tidal currents and (precipitation-driven) river currents. The company uses the trade term "kinetic hydropower" to distinguish their systems from those based on dam construction. The company's first project, the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project, is several turbines in New York City's East River.
Muckle Green Holm is an uninhabited island in the North Isles of the Orkney archipelago in Scotland. It is roughly 28 hectares (0.11 sq mi) in extent and rises to 28 metres (92 ft) above sea level, the summit having a triangulation pillar.
Orfasay is one of the Shetland Islands.
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd. is a UKAS accredited test and research centre focused on wave and tidal power development, based in the Orkney Islands, UK. The centre provides developers with the opportunity to test full-scale grid-connected prototype devices in wave and tidal conditions.
Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT), was a United Kingdom-based company that developed tidal stream generators, most notably the 1.2 MW SeaGen turbine. The company was bought by the German automation company, Siemens in 2012, who later sold the company to Atlantis Resources in 2015.
A tidal stream generator, often referred to as a tidal energy converter (TEC), is a machine that extracts energy from moving masses of water, in particular tides, although the term is often used in reference to machines designed to extract energy from the run of a river or tidal estuarine sites. Certain types of these machines function very much like underwater wind turbines and are thus often referred to as tidal turbines. They were first conceived in the 1970s during the oil crisis.
The Paimpol–Bréhat tidal farm is a tidal stream turbine demonstration site, located northeast of Île-de-Bréhat near Paimpol, Brittany, France. It was initially developed by Électricité de France (EdF), initiated in 2004 and construction work began in 2008, but the project was subsequently cancelled by EdF in 2018. This project was to use OpenHydro turbines, with two briefly installed in 2016, but they were later removed.
Orbital Marine Power is a Scottish renewable energy company focused on the development and global deployment of its pioneering floating turbine technology. The O2 is Orbital's first commercial turbine and represents the culmination of more than 15 years of world leading product development in the UK. The 74 m long turbine is expected to operate in the waters off Orkney for the next 15–20 years with the capacity to meet the annual electricity demand of around 2,000 UK homes with clean, predictable power from the fast-flowing waters while offsetting approximately 2,200 tonnes of CO2 production per year. In a further ground-breaking element of the project, the O2 will provide power to the European Marine Energy Centre's onshore electrolyser to generate green hydrogen that will be used to demonstrate decarbonisation of wider energy requirements.
Morlais is a grid connected tidal stream energy project located in the Irish Sea just off the west coast of Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales. It is being developed by the social enterprise agency Menter Môn. The site has the potential for up to 240 MW of renewable energy to be harnessed from the tides, using a mixture of seabed mounted and floating tidal energy devices from different companies.
Nova Innovation Ltd is a Scottish developer of tidal stream turbines, based in Leith, Edinburgh. They deployed their first 30 kW turbine in 2014. Since then, they have developed and tested a 100 kW seabed mounded two-bladed horizontal-axis tidal stream turbine, and plan to scale this up in future. Up to six of these turbines have been deployed simultaneously in the Bluemull Sound, Shetland since 2016.
Many tidal stream generators have been developed over the years to harness the power of tidal currents flowing around coastlines. These are also called tidal stream turbines (TST), tidal energy converters (TEC), or marine hydro-kinetic (MHK) generation. These turbines operate on a similar principle to wind turbines, but are designed to work in a fluid approximately 800 times more dense than air which is moving at a slower velocity. Note that tidal barrages or lagoons operate on a different principle, generating power by impounding the rising and falling tide.
OpenHydro Group Ltd was an Irish developer of tidal stream turbines, established in 2004. It was acquired by Naval Energies in 2013, however, Naval Energies decided in July 2018 to stop developing tidal turbines and focus on floating wind turbines. The company subsequently went into liquidation with debts of about €280m.
Minesto AB is a Swedish developer of electricity producing tidal kite turbines, based in Gothenburg. They also have a manufacturing base in Holyhead, North Wales, and a test facility at Portaferry, Northern Ireland.
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60°41′01″N00°59′12″W / 60.68361°N 0.98667°W
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