By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 19 -- Hammerfest Strøm AS, a consortium led by Hammerfest Power Co. and including Statoil ASA, Sintef Civil & Environmental Engineering in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, Zurich-based ABB Group, and Rolls Royce PLC, installed a water turbine Wednesday in Kval Sound outside Hammerfest, in northern Norway.
The prototype, designed to generate electricity from the motion of strong tidal currents flowing through the sound, will supply 700,000 kw-hr/year, enough electricity to supply 35 Norwegian homes, Statoil said. And, unlike other tidal power stations, the new facility does not depend on the regular alternation in water height between high and low tide.
The submerged structure weighs 120 tonnes, and its turbine blades of fiberglass-reinforced plastic measure 10 m from hub to tip. Their rotation is converted to electricity via a generator, with the power transmitted to the land station through a submarine cable.
"The group's strategy is to become a provider of green power," said Hanne Lekva, who heads Statoil's business development unit for new energy. Statoil owns 20% of Hammerfest Strøm.
