Schottel Merges Tidal Units to Sustainable Marine Energy

Schottel, the manufacturer of propulsion and steering systems for ships and offshore applications, has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc (BRTP).

"Following the successful collaboration between SME, Schottel Hydro and Black Rock Tidal Power to develop and demonstrate the PLAT-I floating tidal energy system, with deployments in Scotland and in Canada, Schottel has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into SME," said a press statement from Sustainable Marine Energy.

The provider of tidal energy technology anchor solutions for marine current turbines said that  Schottel  has transferred all its tidal energy assets, including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc (BRTP), to SME in return for equity, becoming SME’s largest shareholder. BRTP’s name has been changed to Sustainable Marine Energy (Canada) Ltd.

SME will be commercialising the tidal turbine technology developed by Schottel, in-conjunction with its platform and anchoring solutions, to offer an integrated solution to the market. SME will also be continuing the development of projects in Nova Scotia, Canada that will be used to prove up its products, including the 5MW berth at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) that was awarded to Schottel in 2014.

SME’s management and engineering teams are based in Edinburgh. The Schottel Hydro team responsible for the design and delivery of the instream turbines will continue to be based in Spay, Germany; co-located with Schottel GmbH, who will continue to provide engineering and technical support alongside manufacturing of power take-off systems. Sustainable Marine Energy (Canada) Ltd, based in Halifax, is leading the delivery of projects in North America.

Jason Hayman, Managing Director of SME said: “This is a very exciting time for SME, and this deal crystalizes the strong relationship that we have built with Schottel over the past five years, initially as a supplier and then as a development partner and investor."