International Power Marine Development yesterday confirmed its plans and said it has opened an office in Thurso and appointed James Minto, who has an engineering background in tidal power technology, to run the project.

The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Power plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has business interests in various parts of the globe, will start working with prototype tidal devices but intends to operate on a commercial basis at a later date.

Subject to an environmental impact assessment, a Crown Estate lease, and planning consent from the Scottish Government, the scheme is due to be operational by 2011.

"This tidal farm will complement prototype testing and bring tidal stream technology to commercial reality. Together with stakeholders, we have an opportunity to create industry best practice for environmental impact assessments and marine operations. I look forward to working with all concerned to contribute to the foundations of this emerging industry," said Mr Minto.

This initiative – coming just two weeks after the announcement of a £300 million scheme to set up an international computer data centre powered by an array of tidal turbines on the seabed of the Pentland Firth – was yesterday welcomed by local MP John Thurso.

"For development to go ahead it is critical to secure grid connections and that has been achieved making this an extremely important project. It will put prototype devices in the water and they are a necessary beginning to a process that leads to full-scale commercial device," the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP told the John O'Groat Journal.

He expected about 12 jobs would be created initially but thought that could rise to between 30 and 40 or more in the longer term.

"It is great that an international company has formed a subsidiary specifically to exploit the Pentland Firth and has opened an office in Thurso to oversee this project. That is good news," he said.

He felt that the patience and hard work put in by the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership over recent years is paying off with proposed tidal and other developments that can help the county cope with the rundown of jobs at Dounreay.

"Work done over the past two to three years is coming to fruition," added John Thurso.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise's Louise Smith, manager of the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project, gave her backing to the scheme.

"It is encouraging to see companies of this calibre developing a detailed strategy for generating power from the Pentland Firth," she said.

"The granting of leases by the Crown Estate has unlocked a logical process for developers to pursue and we look forward to a structured expansion of tidal energy production from the firth over the coming years."

International Power's technical partners are Rolls-Royce backed Tidal Generation Ltd. TGL will test its technology at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney in 2009 when it plans to grid-connect a 500 kilowatt test device.

International Power is the exclusive customer for the launch phase of this TGL technology designed to operate in deep water from 35 to 100 metres with no visual impact and minimal effect on the environment and shipping.

International Power is an independent electricity generating firm with power plants in operation or under construction in Australia, the United States of America, Puerto Rico, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

As reported last month, Singapore-based Atlantis Resources Corporation and major US investment bank Morgan Stanley plan to invest up to £300 million to set up an international computer data centre which would be powered by an array of tidal turbines on the seabed of the Pentland Firth.

The project is expected to create 100 jobs within the next two to three years although that figure could rise to 700 in the future.

The data centre and the tidal-powered turbines, which would meet its energy requirements of 150 megawatts, are expected to be constructed at the same time, with the first of the arrays scheduled to be in place by around 2011.

g.calder@nosn.co.uk

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