Advanced Composites Group (ACG), a member of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, is pleased to announce that their highly advanced VTM®266 prepregs have been used in SeaGen, the world's largest commercial scale tidal energy system. SeaGen is being installed by tidal energy company Marine Current Turbines Ltd, (MCT) , in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough.

Installation of the 1.2MW SeaGen tidal system will commence this month (March 2008) at Strangford Lough, a large, shallow sea lough situated on the east coast of County Down. Once installed and fully commissioned, SeaGen will generate clean electricity for a thousand homes.

VTM266, one of a series of Variable Temperature Moulding prepregs specially formulated by ACG, was selected for the manufacture of the 65mm thick structural spars, the critical elements that add strength and rigidity to the two 8metre long blades. At this length, the spars had to be made using a material that possessed the requisite design and performance qualities and characteristics of high strength and stiffness, but with minimal mass.

From a processing stance, VTM266's chemistry results in a safe, low temperature cure processing route, making it ideally suited for this particular application, where overall composite thickness could, under other circumstances, result in severe exothermic reaction.

While VTM266 permits vacuum-only or autoclave processing cure options, the vacuum-only route was particularly suited for a component of this magnitude.

The scale of the project meant that excellent handling and out life characteristics were significant factors in MCT choosing VTM266. This prepreg provides good handling and processing characteristics on reinforcements ranging from lightweight veils to ultra heavyweight multi-axial fabrics and unidirectional tapes.

Aviation Enterprises Ltd., based in Lambourn, UK, was responsible for manufacturing the colossal blade assemblies. In addition, they designed and installed a fully integrated fibre-optic stress sensing system into the blades to continuously monitor their life-long performance under the challenging environmental conditions. Due to the enormity of the task, and being an industry first, the entire project was enthusiastically accepted as a fresh engineering challenge.

A team of environmental scientists, drawn from Royal Haskoning, Queen's University Belfast and St. Andrew's Sea Mammal Research Unit, will closely monitor SeaGen's operation and its interaction with marine life during the 12 week commissioning phase.

The UK Government's Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) has provided valuable support to the SeaGen project. MCT has received grant assistance from BERR for the main part of the project's development and has received a further £0.98million investment from the government-funded Technology Strategy Board to cover the additional installation costs and independent performance validation.

Martin Wright, Managing Director of MCT, said: "We have carried out extensive engineering and environmental studies to ensure the very best means of installation and operation. As long as the weather is good and there are no last minute operational issues to contend with, we should have SeaGen deployed by the end of March."

"There is global interest in SeaGen as it will be the largest commercial tidal stream device to be installed anywhere in the world, so we can expect its installation to be a springboard for the further development of the marine energy industry in the UK and the island of Ireland. Looking ahead, MCT intends to manufacture and deploy a series of SeaGen devices in projects off Anglesey, UK and on the Canadian seaboard within the next 2 to 4 years."