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Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT), a Siemens business, is a United Kingdom-based company which is developing tidal stream generators. MCT was founded in 2000 to develop ideas of tidal power developed by Peter Fraenkel, who had previously been a founder partner of ''IT Power'',〔(IT Power website )〕 a consultancy established to further the development of sustainable energy technologies. The company is based in Bristol and employed 15 people in 2007. By 2003, MCT had installed a 300 kW experimental tidal turbine northeast of Lynmouth, Devon and by 2008 they had a 1.2 MW turbine, SeaGen, in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland which was able to feed electricity into the National Grid.〔 〕 They now have contracts to install a full tidal farm in the Skerries, off northwest Wales and projects in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, Canada. In February 2012 Siemens acquired a majority share in the company, raising its holding from 45% to over 90%. MCT is now wholly owned by Siemens and is part of the Hydro and Ocean Business. ==Technology== The technology developed by MCT works much the same as a submerged windmill, driven by the flow of water rather than air. Tidal flows are more predictable than air flows both in time and maximum velocity and it is therefore possible to bring designs closer to the theoretical maximum. The turbines have a patented feature by which they can take advantage of the reversal of flow every 6 hours and generate on both flow and ebb of the tide. The tips of the blades are well below the surface so will not be a danger to shipping or be vulnerable to storms. Because the blades are relatively slow moving (15 rpm〔)and there are only two, it is considered unlikely that there will be adverse environmental impacts on fish or other aquatic life, and a monitoring project has been set up in the Strangford Lough project to confirm this.〔 〕 Two approaches are being followed, one for relatively shallow waters, up to , and the other for deeper waters. In shallow waters, the turbines are suspended on a tower which extends above the surface of the water and enables the turbines to be lifted clear of the water for maintenance purposes. But since the number of sites around the world where this is possible is finite, they are also developing fully submersed systems which will take advantage of larger scale, but will also be able to be brought to the surface for maintenance. 〔(Deep water technology )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Marine Current Turbines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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