Tidal energy company OpenHydro, a DCNS company, marks a major milestone this week as it celebrates a decade in business while preparing to deliver two of the world’s first grid connected tidal arrays in France and Canada later this year.
In the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, OpenHydro is working with Emera to deploy and grid connect two 16 metre turbines (2MW each). Off the Brittany coast at EDF’s Paimpol–Bréhat site, OpenHydro will also install two grid-connected, 16 metre turbines.
The company has almost one gigawatt of projects under development – equivalent to 25 per cent of Ireland’s electricity demand. OpenHydro’s commercial portfolio comprises projects in Scotland, the Channel Islands, Canada, Northern Ireland and France, with utility partners including SSE Renewables, Alderney Renewable Energy, Emera, Brookfield Renewable Energy Group and EDF.
There are 125 staff employed across three sites: a technical centre in Carlingford, Co Louth; offices in Dublin and a Canadian branch in Halifax, Nova Scotia. By the end of 2015, it plans to grow its workforce by a further 25 per cent.
French industrial group, DCNS, acquired a controlling interest in OpenHydro in 2013 and is focused on supporting OpenHydro’s transition from R&D to industrial supply and delivery of economic, commercial tidal arrays.
Image: OpenHydro