BACKGROUND

Marine Current Turbines™ Ltd was set up to pioneer the technical and commercial development of tidal stream turbines. The company works with the support of strategic partner companies and has received significant financial support from the UK government originally through the DTI and recently through BERR, as well as from the European Commission.

History

The tidal turbine concepts were initially developed by Peter Fraenkel whilst working at IT Power Ltd, an internationally recognised renewable energy consultancy company which he founded and where he served as Technical Director for 19 years. He was primarily responsible for water current technology, together with hydropower and wind, and is the principal inventor behind the fundamental patents and other intellectual property, which are now wholly owned by MCT. more...

Market Conditions

A number of environmental and economic circumstances have converged to create a powerful demand for MCT’s technology. Although the relentless energy of marine currents has been obvious from the earliest days of seafaring, it is only now that the development of modern offshore engineering capabilities coinciding with the need to find large new renewable energy resources makes this technically feasible and economically imperative. more...
 

’SeaFlow’

The ’SeaFlow’ project involved designing and building a full-scale single rotor 300kW experimental tidal turbine and installing it at a suitable site identified 3km NE of Lynmouth on the North Devon Coast in May 2003. more...

Loch Linnhe

In 1994-5 Peter Fraenkel, then at IT Power, tested the world’s first ever tidal turbine in Loch Linnhe in Scotland. more…