Amsterdam: A group of offshore companies including Bluewater, Damen and Van Oord have joined together to realise a unique floating tidal energy platform which will be moored near Texel in the Waddenzee in the Netherlands and generate clean electricity from the tides.

The platform is a trial for remote locations worldwide, such as islands in Indonesia, Philippines or the Pacific. It is a modular design which uses a new type of permanent mooring lines. It will be the first time that a floating tidal platform is used for electricity production into the Dutch grid. It will be operational in the first half of 2015.

“This platform can be shipped and installed anywhere in the world, to provide clean electricity in remote areas and small islands, replacing expensive and polluting diesel generators” said Allard van Hoeken, head of new energy at Bluewater Energy Services. [31/10/14]