The prospects for a large scale data center development on the northern coast of Scotland received a boost with reports that the first 9MW of generating power is to be placed on the sea bed.

The Pentland Firth is renowned for its fast flowing tidal waters and now the first six turbines are to be positioned as part of a project with the potential for 398MW of power generation . – said to be Europe’s largest tidal power project. Construction will begin in early 2014 and commissioning will take place in 2015. 

Now the Scottish authorities have granted permission for the pilot project to begin, the first commercial tidal wave project in Scotland.

The scheme has been backed from the start by Morgan Stanley as part of a consortium called MeyGen which includes supplier International Power and tidal technology provider Atlantis Resources Corporation. 

The AR1000 turbine is a commercial scale Horizontal Axis Turbines designed for open ocean deployment in harsh environments. AR turbines feature a single rotor set with fixed pitch blades. The AR turbine is rotated as required with each tidal exchange. This is done in the slack period between tides and fixed in place for the optimal heading for the next tide. AR turbines are rated at 1MW @ 2.65m/s of water flow velocity.

The project first gained publicity in 2008.