Scana's Seasystems to Provide Mooring Solution for World's First Floating Tidal Energy Array

Scana’s subsidiary Seasystems has secured a contract for the mooring of the world’s first floating tidal energy array,  the Pempa’q In-stream Tidal Energy Project in Minas Passage in Nova Scotia, Canada. 

When completed, the project run by Scottish Sustainable Marine will provide up to nine megawatts of electricity to the province’s power grid. This is enough to power around 3,000 homes and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.

The first phase consists of a 420-kilowatt PLAT-I tidal energy platform, and Sea systems AS has been commissioned to supply adjustable mooring tensioners. Lying on the seabed, these are attached to the anchors that hold the power station in place in the strong tidal current – connecting the anchor chains with the anchors.

Seasystemsn said that for the past five years, the company has adjusted its strategy from being purely a supplier of equipment to the oil and gas industry to focusing on deliveries to aquaculture and floating renewable energy.

In 2020, Sea systems secured a contract to supply mooring equipment to Hywind Tampen, Equinor's new floating wind farm, marking the firm’s first hardware contract in the floating wind power market.

Seasystems has joined forces with Swift Anchors, a division of Sustainable Marine, in developing a unique hybrid mooring connector and anchor solution, specifically targeting wave, tidal, floating wind, floating solar, ocean thermal energy conversion, deepwater aquaculture, and other challenging anchor applications. This new solution, applied to the Pempa’q project, involves the integration of Seasystems’ adjustable mooring tensioners with Swift Anchors’ anchor product portfolio including groutless rock Anchors, screw anchors, drag embedment anchors and grouted self-drilling piles.

“Our latest venture with Swift Anchors will further catapult our business into the marine energy market,” says Seasystems Managing Director, Torkjell Lislandsays.

“We are pleased with our alliance with Seasystems, which has strong reputation for innovation in the maritime market, forming part of Scana ASA listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The integrated tensioning system significantly eases the installation process for any floating platform and provides increased flexibility in the mooring system design,” says Swift Anchors Managing Director, David Ainsworth.