Earth Equity News

British Firm Bets on Tidal Power. By Robert P. Walzer, NYTimes, January 7, 2010. "A British company with a device that creates energy from tidal movement announced late last month that it had received $5.6 million in financing that it hopes will help it reach larger commercial production within two years. With this most recent injection of cash, which came from Carbon Trust Investments, Bank Invest, EDF Energy and High Tide, as well as private and government investors, Marine Current Turbines has raised roughly $48 million. The company is trying to raise further cash to help it build a five megawatt array based on its 'SeaGen' prototype. The SeaGen is akin to a submerged windmill that is driven by flowing water, and the Bristol-based company already has a small-scale operation established in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, where it has been generating 1.2 megawatts of electricity since April 2008... Considering SeaGen's development costs, its makers reckon the device generates electricity at about $5.5 million per megawatt installed -- or roughly double the cost of offshore wind energy. They consider that a victory."