The UK is the world leader in marine energy (tidal and wave power), hoping to have at least 300MW installed by 2020. Wave and tidal are fairly young sectors, and unlike wind or solar power which generally have a standard design pattern that everyone follows, a wide range of technologies for wave and tidal are still being tested.
A year ago Neptune Renewable Energy began the final test of its concept tidal energy generator in the Humber estuary following successful tests on scaled versions of the technology.
The Proteus generator failed at full scale, unable to produce enough power to make it economically viable to manufacture. With the admittance of its failure, Neptune Renewable Energy also announced their liquidation.
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In the statement announcing its liquidation, Neptune said that: "The Directors became aware towards the end of last year that the device would not be able to achieve a high enough level of electrical output, despite indications to the contrary resulting from earlier work done at fortieth and tenth scale.
The Directors have been obliged to accept that that the chosen approach is technically flawed and therefore not suitable for the development of commercial arrays. They have therefore accepted that there is no commercial value in pursuing the project any further."
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More