First experimental plant for marine current power to be installed in Dalälven

Journalists are welcome to the river Dalälven, in the rural Swedish town of Söderfors, when the first experimental plant for marine current power will be installed on March 7. The aim is to develop new technology for utilising renewable marine current power as a means for producing electricity.

At Uppsala University, successful research on renewable energy is being conducted. Professor Mats Leijon leads research groups on wind power, wave power and marine current power that have been ranked as internationally leading in several research evaluations. Now it is time for the very first experimental marine current power plant.

“This is a completely new technique for utilising the energy in water currents in an environmentally friendly way. It has been developed by doctoral students, students and researchers here at the Ångström Laboratory”, says Professor Mats Leijon who leads development of technology for renewable energy at the Division of Electricity at Uppsala University.

In rivers, straits and oceans there are water currents that constitute a renewable source of energy with large potential in many areas, especially in places with strong tidal currents. The project at Uppsala University investigates the possibilities of converting kinetic energy into electricity using new technology. The experimental power plant consists of a vertical axis turbine connected directly to a generator that has been adapted to the water’s movements.

The aim of the Söderfors project is to run an experimental power plant under realistic conditions. The plant includes the turbine, a generator and a foundation on the river bed as well as a cable drawn to a cabin on land where data will be recorded. It will be placed downstream of the main bridge across river Dalälven in central Söderfors.

Financiers that have been of significance to the project are:
The Swedish Research Council, Vattenfall – vattenkraft, Ångpanneföreningens forskningsstiftelse, J. Gust Richert research foundation (Sweco), the Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion (the Swedish Energy Agency, Vinnova and Statkraft) as well as the government’s strategic research grants for STandUP for Energy at Uppsala University.

Read more about the project on http://www.el.angstrom.uu.se/forskningsprojekt/Electric%20power%20generation%20from%20marine%20currents.html

For more information about the project, contact Mats Leijon, tel. +46 70 425 09 23

Media questions concerning practical questions for March 7th, please contact senior press officer Anneli Waara, +46 70 425 07 18, anneli.waara@uadm.uu.se