TIDAL TURBINE TESTING CANCELLED ON THAMES

Sadly, due to excessive delays in receiving permission and licenses from the government agencies controlling the River Thames, combined with the limiting operating conditions imposed within the licenses, Hales Energy Ltd has no option but to remove the special 1.5 KW Hales Turbine prototype together with the ducted pontoon that was especially constructed to test and display the potential of run of river and tidal energy.

Hales Energy Ltd started applying for permission with the first government agency to test this very slow rotating turbine design in March 2011 and waited nine months before finally getting clearance. A second government agency had by then required a further license to test at the Thames location and this added a further five months delay.
      Some of the seventeen operating conditions imposed by this second government agency mean that much of the turbine testing, to prove the design is environmentally benign compared to other designs etc , could not be completed within the short time period left.
   Also the monthly license fees are so high just for this 1.5 KW prototype, that energy generation from the tidal area of the River Thames will never be considered a commercial proposition.

 Hales Energy Ltd is busy building special small but highly engineered tidal turbine prototypes to be tested in the special water flow tanks a UCL university, London, this summer, this work is mainly to improve the drive blade performance and turbine to ducting balance.

 Hales Energy Ltd is also working towards finding a new site for the 1.5KW prototype unit to complete the environmental tests such as fish passage through the working area and ease of deployment etc.