Tocardo Tidal Turbines, producer of tidal and free-flow water turbines, has reached an agreement with Ekornergy, the South Korean energy company, to install tidal turbines with a total capacity of 28MW. The units will be installed in the coastal waters of the Mokpo Jeonnam region.
Manufacturing of the first 15 T2 kW Tocardo turbines is expected to start in late 2015 as part of a 3 MW demonstration project. In 2016, Tocardo expects to start producing its bigger T3 turbines, which are to be installed in a commercial tidal array with a total capacity of 25MW. The Mokpo Jeonnam region has one of the strongest tidal streams on the planet, with bi-directional tidal speeds of up to 4 meters per second. Electricity generated will be fed into South Korea’s national grid.
“ This is a major step towards accelerating Tocardo’s expansion into large-scale tidal energy projects across the globe, ” says Hans van Breugel , CEO Tocardo. “ We’re looking forward to working with Ekornergy and other Korean partners to seize this opportunity to supply the Korean grid with significant amounts of clean and reliable energy, helping reduce the country’s carbon emissions.”
Tocardo and Ekornergy signed a memorandum of understanding on the projects on Tuesday during a ceremony in Seoul attended by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, who were paying a state visit.
Tocardo is one of few companies in the world commercially manufacturing and marketing tidal turbines. The Netherlands-based company earlier closed deals to sell its technology in Nepal and has projects in the pipeline in Europe and North-America.