A tidal stream turbine with a rotor diameter of 18m has been installed between the islands of Putuoshan and Huludao in the Zhoushan archipelago in China in the past week, marking a significant milestone in the race top open up China’s 8.2GW tidal stream renewable power potential.

SIMEC Atlantis Energy (Atlantis), through its partnership with ITPEnergised, has worked with The China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (“CSIC”) and China Three Gorges (“CTG”) to develop CTG’s first SG500kW tidal stream turbine.

The success of this project is made all the more impressive given the extraordinary circumstances in which the turbine was manufactured. CSIC’s facilities in Wuhan have in recent months had to deal with being at the centre of the outbreak of the coronavirus and have dealt with the logistical challenges that this presented with extreme professionalism. While following all government advice concerning social distancing as well as the regulations concerning manufacturing facilities, CSIC has been successful, with the turbine now fully installed.

“Atlantis can be extremely proud of the role we played in this project,” commented Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive of SIMEC Atlantis Energy. “The fast execution, from concept design to installation, represents a phenomenal feat of engineering that bodes well for a rapid future roll-out of tidal power in China, which in turn will have material cost reduction implications globally.”