Bluewater inaugurates world’s first floating Tidal Bluetec platform

A group led by Bluewater has inaugurated the first BlueTEC floating tidal power demonstration platform that will be installed in the coming weeks off the island of Texel, the Netherlands.

The floating platform, which holds a 200-kW tidal turbine below the sea surface, will supply clean electricity to the Dutch grid.

This first BlueTEC will serve at remote locations worldwide, such as islands in Indonesia, Philippines and the Pacific.

The company said that it is planning further development of higher capacity tidal energy platforms, to be deployed in large farms.

The project is part of a collaboration between Bluewater, Damen, Van Oord and Acta Marine, Tocardo, Schottel Hydro, TKF, Vryhof, NIOZ, Nylacast and the Tidal Test Centre.

The platform is a development of Damen’s modular barge system, a flexible product that can be put into effect in the construction of a wide range of vessels from dredgers and jetties to ferries and pontoons.

The Dutch shipyard group Damen used three standard container-sized modules to build the Texel platform.

Bluewater head of New Energy Allard van Hoeken said: "We are very pleased that we have reached this exciting milestone for our first floating tidal demonstration platform.

"It is wonderful to see the Texel tidal energy project come to reality. Today’s ceremony puts us a step closer to our goal of putting an all-in-one tidal energy platform on the market and delivering clean, local and endless energy to the world."

According to the company, the platform will start its electricity production before summer.

It helps in offering clean electricity in remote areas and small islands, replacing expensive and polluting diesel generators.

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Image: The first BlueTEC Tidal Energy platform. Photo: courtesy of Damen Shipyards Group

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