Spanish tidal energy developer Magallanes Renovables has revealed it will install the blades for its ATIR floating tidal platform at the end of this September.

The ATIR floating tidal platform has been anchored in Ria de Vigo estuary, located in the Spanish region of Galicia, since July 11, 2017, in an area with the water depth of 25 meters.

The platform will be fitted with turbine blades in a diving operation scheduled to take place three weeks from now, at the end of September, to conduct trials, the company said.

The testing will first be done on the platform’s generators, upon which Magallanes Renovables plans to use a tug to tow the platform in order to test its rotor blades.

Mario Iglesias, Project Director at Magallanes Renovables, said: “Our first goal is to check that the equipment works perfectly during static tests. There are many things that have never been done before, such as the installation of blades at the depth of 15 meters. Any movement we make is pure innovation.”

The full-scale device weighs 350 tonnes, and is 42 meters long. Its two-side oriented turbine blades are 19 meters in diameter.

After the trials in Ria de Vigo, the platform will be moved to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland, for additional trials that will last for one year, starting in 2018.

Last week, the Scottish delegation which included Orcades Marine Management Consultants, and EMEC’s Managing Director, Neil Kermode, visited the ATIR platform.

In addition to Magallanes Renovables and EMEC, the Ocean 2G project, through Horizon 2020 Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) scheme, also involves Leask Marine, and IM Future.