Atlantis Resources Corporation PTE Ltd a company having head quarters in UK and Singapore and a pioneer in tidal wave turbine power generation research has unveiled last week the world’s largest tidal wave power generator to be installed off shore at European Marine Centre at Orkney in far north Scotland. The gentle juggernaut is designed to power their computer data centre while being located in one of the harshest off shore environments around.

The turbine designed to be fully submerged in operation is rated for a capacity of 1 mw electrical. The monstrous generator which is code named AK-1000 by the manufacturers weighs 1430 tons and is about 75 ft (approx. 22 m) high.

The triple bladed twin rotors are installed opposed and will be rotating at a slow speed of 8 to 10 revolutions, a speed very much less than the speed of a propeller in an ocean going vessel. Compared to the familiar wind turbines, the tidal turbines generate more power at a slower speed while the span of rotors themselves may be less. This is because, the air on wind turbines is less dense and pack less potential energy and therefore needs higher rotational speeds and wider rotors to get at the same output as a tidal turbine.

The marine life thriving in the regions identified with speedy tidal flows are already populated with only agile and sharp marine species capable of avoiding hazards associated with fast moving objects. The designers of AK-1000 estimate that the marine life will easily avoid the slow moving turbine rotors. This aspect is welcome news to environmentalists concerned about the marine life endangered due to mans endless quest for exploitation of sea resources.

The relatively recent technology of tidal turbines are still in it’s infancy though there are many installations in Europe and US which are relatively small capacity prototype or experimental units. Atlantis Resources Corporation is one set up who have ventured a step ahead and placed their money on the commercialization of the tidal turbines.

The tidal turbine offers several advantages over wind turbines such as:

• Invisible to the on lookers on land unlike the unsightly wind turbine farms.

• Virtually noise free unlike noisy wind turbines

• Do not use valuable land mass

• Do not use extensive areas in sea bed.

• Do not harm living forms in significant numbers

• Minimum potential hazard from snapped rotors unlike in wind turbine

• The tidal flow inlets are generally found conveniently close to densely populated cities where there is the highest demand for electrical power

Timothy Cornelius the CEO of Atlantis Resources Corporation is confident that the emergence of tidal power as a viable commercial venture will require the development of local supply chains, employing a substantial number of local residents, to deliver sustainable energy to the local grid.