Wave Of The Future: Scotland’s Sea-Savvy Hamster Wheel

-

NOTE: Pictures or videos shown are not related to Scotland's MeyGen Turbine and are examples only.

Move aside, On-shore Wind Farms—There’s a New Spin on Green Energy, and it’s Underwater!!

Off Scotland’s rugged coast, in about 40 meters of brisk seawater, a giant turbine has been churning out clean electricity for 6½ years straight without a single unscheduled pit stop. 

That’s right: it hasn’t been yanked out of the brine for repairs, proving that tidal power is more than just a temperamental tide‑pool toy.

Meet the MeyGen Marvels

The site—dubbed MeyGen—boasts four grid‑scale turbines, each packing 1.5 megawatts of punch. 

Together, they send enough juice to illuminate 7,000 homes a year. 

But the true headline grabber is the durability test: Swedish bearings guru SKF announced that the seals and bearings on one turbine have endured the harsh marine buffet for over six years—no makeshift duct tape required.

“Achieving six years in the water with constant operations is a very significant milestone,” declares Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe.

 Indeed, skeptics (and their investment committees) have been asking for a decade, “How on Earth will you keep these things running underwater?”

 Well, ask no more.

Carpet‑Roller of the Sea

Installing these “sea‑floors” is almost as elegant as the turbines themselves. 

A Scheuchzer rail train—think “World’s Angriest Locomotive”—unfurls one‑metre‑wide solar‑panel–style PV arrays “just like an unrolling carpet,” according to Joseph Scuderi, Sun‑Ways’ CEO (though it’s a tidal, not solar, carpet.) 

Maintenance day? The panels pop off faster than you can say “high tide.”

From Prototype to Powerhouse

Sun‑Ways—and by extension, SAE Renewables, which operates the MeyGen site—fought tooth and fin for regulatory approval. 

The Federal Office of Transport threw a wet blanket on the idea last year, but after ten months of prototype testing (and one very soggy boardroom), the permit came through. 

By spring 2025, 48 panels will hug a 100‑metre stretch of transN‑operated rails, at a cost of CHF 585,000 (€623,000)—a small price for what could become a tidal revolution.

Scaling the Firth: From Four to 130

MeyGen isn’t content with a quartet of turbines. 

By 2030, they plan to add 20 more, contingent on grid upgrades. 

Dream big: eventually, the site could house 130 turbines, turning the Pentland Firth’s strong tidal currents into an ocean of electrons. 

If every turbine were a Loch Ness monster, Scotland might finally catch up to its own legend in green energy.

“It’s a title we wish we didn’t have. We want more, we want others,” chuckles Fraser Johnson, MeyGen’s operations and maintenance manager.

 “Unfortunately, others are having difficulty achieving what MeyGen has achieved. But working with SKF moving forward, we’ll push the industry forward.”

 

Tidal Tech vs. Real‑World Waves

Tidal energy, though brimming with promise, still faces choppy seas:

  • Regulatory Tides: Getting permits is trickier than navigating a maze of kelp.

  • Environmental Ripples: Seabed habitats and fish schools raise valid concerns.

  • Cost Currents: Installation and maintenance in saltwater can sting investors’ wallets.

Even the International Union of Railways (yes, they care about seabed PV too) warns of micro‑cracks, wildfire risks from floating debris, and the potential for dazzled engineers. 

Sun‑Ways counters with anti‑reflection filters, reinforced panels, and built‑in sensors that call home when they sneeze from salt spray. 

They’re even cooking up a de‑icing system for winter frosts—because why should snow bunnies have all the fun!

Why It Matters

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the world’s largest untapped renewable resource is marine energy—tides, currents, waves, even temperature gradients. 

With climate change demanding faster energy transitions, tapping the Power of the Sea is no longer just academic. 

From Scotland to Spain, Romania, and South Korea, Sun‑Ways’ sea carpet could unfurl across the globe, as co‑founder Baptiste Danichert once dreamed.

So the next time you admire a wind turbine’s graceful spin, glance seaward and imagine the Lochside chorus of underwater turbines—spinning ceaselessly, powering your home, and proving that the simplest solution (use the moving water) sometimes is the smartest one.


“No paywall. No puppets. Just local truth. Chip in $3 today” at https://buymeacoffee.com/doublejeopardynews

“Enjoy this content without corporate censorship? Help keep it that way.”

“Ad-Free. Algorithm-Free. 100% Independent. Support now.”


#TidalTurnaround
#MeyGenMagic
#SeaCarpetEnergy
#UnderwaterSpin
#TidesToPower
#ScotlandShines
#SKFSealOfApproval
#GridScaleGreen
#FloodTheFirth
#ClimateCurrent
#SaltwaterSavvy
#OceanEnergyRevolution
#PentlandPower
#RenewablesAfloat

#WaveOfTheFuture 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Please Help Find These Forgotten Girls Held at Male Juvenile Prison for Over a Year!

-
Image
  MY MOST IMPORTANT STORY  Dozens of Forgotten Little Girls Held at Male Juvenile Prison for Over a Year! Welcome to the Sunshine State, where the palm trees sway, the alligators lurk, and the legislative process makes Kafka look like a life coach!  Florida House Bill HB21 . Not just a compensation bill but possibly a 20 million dollar "Stay out of Jail Free" card for some folks. This is a bill that does some good—but also trips over its own shoelaces, falls down a staircase, and lands on a historical oversight so big, it might as well have its own zip code! An oversight that overlooks what I consider to be its most vulnerable victims! The Setup: Justice with a Catch HB21 was enacted on July 1, 2024 to compensate victims of abuse from two male juvenile detention facilities located in Florida, Dozier and Okeechobee.  It says, “Hey, survivors of abuse between 1940 and 1975, here’s some compensation for the horrific things you endured!” Sounds good, right? Like a...
Read more

Here's A New HOA Rule Dictating What You Can Do Inside Your Home

-
Image
HOA Overreach: When Your Own Home Isn’t Really Your Own The joys of homeownership—the American dream!  That magical place where you can paint the walls any color you like, blast your music (within reason), and enjoy the simple pleasure of—wait, never mind..... Turns out, your HOA might have something to say about what you do inside your own four walls. Case in point: A longtime homeowner, who has peacefully lived in his residence for 25 years, was blindsided when his HOA suddenly banned smoking inside individual homes.  That’s right—after a quarter-century of no issues, he was informed that lighting up indoors was no longer an option.  The new rule, passed at the HOA’s annual meeting by a majority vote, now restricts smoking to a designated outdoor area. Now, while some might see this as a health-conscious decision, the homeowner—whose wife is a smoker—sees it as an unfair overreach.  In a letter to a local publication, he expressed frustration, writing, “I’ve live...
Read more

Postal Police Stuck Behind ‘Keep Out’ Signs While Mailmen Face Muggers: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!!

-
Image
As crime against letter carriers surges, one would think that America’s armed, uniformed Postal Police might be hitting the streets to protect our mail.  Instead, they’re still glued to their post office entrances like sentries guarding Fort Frownmore.  Why?  Because since 2020, the Postmaster General decreed they must “protect postal property” only—meaning, they currently serve as glorified lobby bouncers rather than actual roaming guardians of the mailstream. “ They’re robbing letter carriers, they’re sticking a gun in a letter carrier’s face and they’re demanding arrow keys, ” laments Frank Albergo , president of the National Postal Police Union and a Postal Police Officer himself.  An "arrow key" in the context of the Post Office is a specialized, universal key that postal workers use to access various locked mail receptacles, including collection boxes, apartment mailboxes, and cluster boxes. Albergo isn’t exaggerating—research shows over 100 physical assaul...
Read more