Clean Energy

In 2003 the Norwegian Hammerfest Strøm tidal system was installed to provide power to the town of Hammerfest. The 300kW tidal stream turbine is seabed-mounted and generates power on both the flood and ebb tides. 

In May 2007, Scottish Power Renewables Ltd announced its intention to invest in Hammerfest UK, a subsidiary company aiming to develop the technology for use in UK waters. This will involve developing a larger, 1MW rated unit which could be used as the basis of future commercial tidal power installations. 

With our considerable experience in the assessment of marine renewable energy devices, Scottish Power Renewables asked us to complete a technical assessment of the tidal system, to complement their commercial and legal diligence activities.

Frazer-Nash Involvement

The Norwegian technology was relatively unknown in the UK, and it was vital to the project that a specialist assessment was undertaken before an investment was made.

Our assessment followed Frazer-Nash’s unique ‘claims, arguments, evidence’ structure, focussing on the aims of the investment for Scottish Power Renewables and providing advice on the those aspects of the technology and technical development plan that had the greatest influence on the success of the investment. Understanding the key technology claims at the outset provides an agreed structure for technical due diligence, allowing targeted and objective advice to be formulated.

Our assessment of the current prototype involved site visits, interrogation of operational data, review of technical reports and interviews with key members of staff. We looked at several performance aspects including energy yield, survivability and availability.

This information allowed us to assess the plausibility of the technology development project as a whole.

A Way Forward

Our report to Scottish Power Renewables clarified the nature of the technology and its current state of development.

Through our assessment of the supporting evidence base we were able to largely validate Hammerfest Strøm’s claims on the current technology. We made a number of technical recommendations that could influence a development programme to scale up the technology. We were also able to explain how the proposed technology development path impacts on the likely success of the investment, and the mitigations which can be put in place to de-risk the investment. 

Linking our technical expertise to our due-diligence experience in this way gives us a unique position to clarify and de-risk investments in complex and immature technology.