Inyanga Marine Energy, developers of a tidal stream energy project in Wales, has awarded contracts to build its HydroWing tidal energy array.
The news follows an earlier announcement that Hutchinson Engineering had been selected as the firm which will build the foundation and rear nacelle for the array.
Now, the Inyanga Marine Energy has revealed that PPI Engineering will design and manufacture the generator and its housing, RMSpumptools will develop a bespoke connector system, Involution Technolgies will design and manufacture the main shaft unit, Iconsys will manage systems integration, Eire Composites will manufacture the carbon fibre blades, and Prysmian will manufacture the export cables for the system.
The 20MW Morlais Energy Project will be located in a 35km2 area of seabed off the coast of Ynys Mon (Anglesey), and is currently under development by Inyanga Marine Energy, having been awarded a contract in the UK government’s latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round (AR6).
Building on a 10MW contract awarded in the previous allocation round, the CfD doubled the size of the HydroWing project at Morlais to 20MW, making it the largest tidal energy project in the UK. This demonstration pilot is set to deploy in the first quarter of next year; if successful, Inyanga Marine Energy states that the site has the potential to generate as much as 240MW of clean electricity in the future.
Significant progress has already been made on the development of the HydroWing system; in September last year, the company announced that it had successfully completed hydrodynamic testing of the Passive Pitch Unit for the HydroWing, proving that the blade rotor on the device can automatically regulate its own angle and pitch during varied weather and ocean conditions.
The project has been a significant focus of Wales’ efforts to position itself as an innovator in the clean energy sector. Last month, the Welsh government invested £2 million into Inyanga Marine Energy to fund the development of improved tidal energy turbines that will allow them to generate up to 60% more energy than their predecessors. These will be tested in real sea conditions at the Morlais site.
Richard Parkinson, CEO of Inyanga Marine Energy Group, said the contracts were awarded following a “rigorous” tender process, and most of the contracts have been awarded to UK-based companies. He added, “The winning contractors are all best in class and have proven themselves capable of delivering advanced technology at the cutting edge.”
