- The Princess Royal visited the testing facility of the €10 million MAXBlade project.
- The MAXBlade project will increase the length of the turbine blades from 10 to 13 metres.
A project aiming to maximise tidal energy generation has been launched in the presence of Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, at the University of Edinburgh’s FastBlade facility. The Princess Royal visited the testing facility of the €10 million project.
The MAXBlade project will increase the length of the turbine blades from 10 to 13 metres, the longest of their kind in the world.
The team behind the development says that boosting blade length is predicted to significantly reduce the cost of tidal energy.
Analysis by the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Energy Systems estimated £40 billion could be generated for the economy by harnessing wave and tidal energy.
The Chief Executive Officer at Orbital Marine Power, Andrew Scott, said: “MAXBlade will help deliver tidal energy into a future, low-carbon energy mix at lower costs while, at the same time, position UK and European businesses to benefit from long-term industrial opportunities that will come from this new, sustainable industry.”