Tidal power developer Atlantis Resources Corporation and the State of Gujarat executive today signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] to assess Gujarat's tidal power resources with the intention of developing tidal power projects of 100 MW or more capacity in the State. The memorandum was signed by the General Manager, Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd. Mr. Y. C. Potdar on behalf of Gujarat Government in his capacity as General Manager of State subsidiary Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd and Mr. Timothy Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer of Atlantis, a British company that is a world leader in tidal power generation.
Speaking on the occasion Cornelius paid complements to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to make Gujarat a world leader in sustainable renewable energy resources and pointed out that potentially the Gulf of Kutch and the Gulf of Khambhat have huge tidal power resource and that Atlantis was committed to helping Gujarat achieve a leading international position in tidal power generation by tapping this potential.
Explaining the Atlantis technology, Mr. Cornelius said tidal power turbines convert the kinetic energy present in flowing water in the ocean into electricity which is then dispatched to the local grid for industrial consumption. “The Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat are renowned for their extreme daily tidal exchanges and Atlantis is proud to be involved in what could become a world leading renewable energy project”, he observed.
According to Cornelius, the State of Gujarat could be ranked in the top ten locations globally for economically exploitable tidal power resource. Coupled with the recent announcements on concentrated solar power projects in the State, this tidal power project has the potential to place Gujarat at the forefront of the fight against climate change through the adoption of cutting edge renewable generation technologies. It has the potential to create a new local industry based around tidal power in the State and could establish Gujarat as a global leader in marine power renewable energy creating hundreds of local jobs”, Cornelius said .
The initial study scope will focus on the technical and economic feasibility of tidal power as a source of sustainable, renewable power in the State and potential project size could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in tidal turbines and associated power export infrastructure.
Atlantis Resources Corporation is the world’s leading developer of tidal power technology and projects and its shareholders include the US investment bank Morgan Stanley and the Norwegian State owned utility, Statkraft. Earlier this month Atlantis announced that it would be installing the world’s largest tidal power turbine, the AK-1000, at the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland in 2010. The AK-1000 turbine is stated to be 18 meters in diameter and capable of producing 1MW of power in 2.6 m/s of tidal current; enough energy for over 1,000 homes in the UK.
