Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has also attracted funding from Carbon Trust, High Tide and other private investors bringing total investment in the company over the past two months to £8.5 million ($13.2 million).

This funding will help MCT in its plans to deploy the UK’s first commercial tidal energy farm in UK waters within the next two years. Since February 2008 the company has partnered RWE npower on plans to develop a tidal farm in waters off Anglesey, north Wales.

SeaGen, MCT’s 1.2 MW prototype commercial tidal energy turbine, has exceeded 1,000 hours of operation in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough since 2008. The energy device operates much like an “underwater windmill” with the rotors driven by the power of tidal currents rather than the wind.