Somewhere off the coast of Invergordon in Scotland on Thursday, the world’s largest tidal turbine will be unveiled, marking a turning point in the global renewable tidal energy industry.
This turbine, which can generate consistent electricity to power 1,000 British homes, may be located thousands of miles from Singapore but it represents a key moment for the city-state’s growing clean technology or “cleantech” industry.
This is because the AK1000 turbine, as it is called, was tested in Singapore waters and designed on Singapore’s shores during key periods of its 10-year research history.
Chief executive Timothy Cornelius of Atlantis Resources Corporation – the firm behind the turbine – said the unveiling and installation of the one megawatt turbine was the “culmination of 10 years of hard work and belief from all partners and staff”.
It is an important milestone not only for Atlantis, which has invested S$100 million of private investors’ funds into developing the turbine to date, but for the global marine power industry, he said.
“This is when ocean power generation goes from being in the research space to the commercial space.”
The company, which originated in Australia before moving its headquarters to Singapore five years ago, is now looking at possible locations to build a manufacturing plant that will mass produce its turbines for commercial application.
Dwindling fossil fuel resources and growing concern on its negative impact on global climate change has resulted in a global race for clean energy in recent years. Tidal energy has potential to be a key energy source for a world grappling with rapid urbanisation.
Apart from Scotland, countries such as Japan and India have vast untapped tidal energy resources that could be converted into renewable energy, thus reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels, said Mr Cornelius. If all goes well, the firm will begin looking to list on an Asian bourse – possibly in Singapore – next year, he added.
He credited the company’s success to its move to Singapore, where the firm had access to a highly-skilled labour workforce and research collaborations with institutions such as Nanyang Technological University. It now has a local staff of 15. “Singapore has strong intellectual property laws too, which was a key pull factor for us,” he said.
The turbine was also tested in the southern waters of Singapore near the Raffles lighthouse in 2008 to collect key data. Its waters are however too busy due to shipping routes for tidal energy to be tapped, added Mr Cornelius.
When installed, the AK1000 turbine weighing 150 tonnes and at a height of 22.5 metres, will sit at a dedicated berth at the European Marine Energy Centre, located in Scotland’s Orkney. It costs about US$3 million for one turbine and the payback period is five to 10 years depending on the flow rate of the waves, he added.
Cleantech director Goh Chee Kiong of the Economic Development Board said yesterday that Atlantis’s presence in Singapore will “increase the vibrancy of the fast-growing cleantech industry” here.
“This project affirms Singapore’s attractiveness as a global home for cleantech businesses,” said Mr Goh, who also highlighted that Atlantis benefitted from Singapore’s strengths in existing industry clusters such as precision engineering, offshore and marine.
Atlantis said it is now actively pursuing projects in the Asia Pacific region, especially to ‘power hungry’ markets. “We are confident of developing tidal power as a credible new renewable asset class in Asia,” said Mr Cornelius.
Source: The Straits Times
