By Kari Williamson

The single rotor, three blade tidal turbine can produce up to 1 MW of power at water velocity of 2.65 m/s. The tidal turbine's rotor diameter is 18 m, and it stands 22.5 m tall. Total weight is 1500 tonnes.

The AR1000 will be tested over a two year period at EMEC.

Neil Kermonde, Managing Director at EMEC, says: “It is wonderful to see this commercial-scale tidal turbine connected to the grid from Orkney waters. The marine energy industry in Scotland continues to gather pace and is working towards world-leading targets in terms of deployment and generation of renewable energy. My congratulations go to the entire team at Atlantis.”

Tim Cornelius, Atlantis CEO, adds: “Following the blade manufacturing fault in 2010, we switched suppliers and reverted to standard GRP [glass reinforced plastics] blades. We also took the opportunity to review the entire tidal power component supply chain in conjunction with our customers and opted to focus on a turbine design that employs only proven and readily accessible components and can therefore be manufactured at scale. We will continue to invest in the AK1000 research and development programme as the supply chain matures, but our customers need commercial reliability and that's what the AR1000 system can give them today.”

The GRP blades are produced by Norco GRP Ltd of Poole, UK.