A Nova Innovation led consortium has secured €20M in EU Horizon Europe funding to deliver a 16-turbine tidal farm project—the largest number of turbines deployed globally. The 4 MW array will be installed at the EMEC Fall of Warness tidal site in Orkney, home to the second strongest tidal currents across the globe.
SEASTAR (Sustainable European Advanced Subsea Tidal Array) marks a significant advancement in tidal energy; it will showcase industrial scale manufacturing, operation, and maintenance techniques for the first time. The project will do this throughout the entire lifecycle of the tidal farm; from design, production, shipping, deployment, and operation to decommissioning.
The 16-turbine tidal farm also provides unique opportunities to address critical environmental evidence gaps and develop cost-effective, reliable, monitoring solutions to accelerate permitting—thus removing barriers for future large tidal farms.
This project promises to reinforce the collaborative partnership between Scotland and Europe, create high-quality green jobs and enhance Europe’s position as a global frontrunner in the marine energy supply chain.
Simon Forrest, Chief Executive of Nova Innovation, said: “This is a huge win for Nova and a huge vote of confidence for the tidal energy sector. To be awarded this flagship European tidal energy project with turbines made and deployed here in Scotland, using a pan-European supply chain, is testament to our track record of success. The SEASTAR project will see more turbines installed than all other current deployments worldwide combined. This will enable Nova to start mass manufacturing, deploy at scale and continue to drive down the cost of tidal energy.”
The project builds on the success of Nova's 6-turbine Shetland Tidal Array—the world's first offshore tidal array—which was delivered under the H2020 EnFAIT project by a team including SEASTAR partners SKF and Wood. For SEASTAR, they are joined by EMEC, Primo Marine, Wave Venture, Nature Positive, Renewable Risk Advisors, Leask Marine and DLA Piper, who specialize respectively in site management, subsea cable design, offshore analysis, sustainability, insurance, offshore operations, and legal services. Ocean Energy Europe is the communication and dissemination partner, to ensure project news and updates reach the renewable energy community and the wider public.
Rémi Gruet, Ocean Energy Europe’s CEO, commented: “Tidal stream is ready for the next phase, and that involves putting more machines in the water. With this award, the European Commission is sending a strong signal that Europe wants to remain a leader in tidal technologies, especially as those technologies have been developed here. We look forward to helping the project—and the sector—get off the ground as fast as possible to help reach the EU’s target—1GW of ocean energy by 2030.”
