Aquamarine Power prepares for second Oyster installation
20 Jun 11
We took the first step towards installation of our second
full-scale Oyster wave energy converter last week with the arrival
of the 'Excalibur' jack-up barge in Orkney.
The vessel is now stationed at the European Marine Energy
Centre's (EMEC) Billia Croo site, where Oyster will be installed
later this summer. The jack-up barge will now begin drilling piles
into the seabed to provide the foundation for the second generation
device.
The Oyster device is due to arrive in Orkney in late July.
The device has been manufactured by Burntisland Fabrications at its
Methil and Arnish yards. The fully-fabricated Oyster will be
transported from Methil to EMEC by barge in July.
The next phase of installation will see Oyster being fixed to
the seabed piles around 500 metres from shore. This will be
followed by a commissioning process which will see the device
connected to an onshore hydro-electric generator via subsea
pipelines.
Work has been ongoing onshore at Billia Croo since October last
year when preparation for the directional drilling of the subsea
pipelines began. These pipelines were successfully completed
in May.