The yet untapped energy resource of tidal currents is a fascinating engineering challenge due to the hostile marine environment. Up to now there are several non-grid connected test power plants in operation, but so far there is no proven concept for large scale tidal energy production in the market. Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation intents to become leader in this market segment by developing a reliable and robust design of a turbine and a support structure. In the early stage of such a development robustness and reliability are the most important criteria for a possible customer to invest in such a new technology. The perceived technical risk drives their expectations on returns. As a matter of fact the harsh marine environment is likely to be the main challenge for power plants which are operating fully submerged under the sea water level. Lessons learned from offshore wind farms have shown that periods of inaccessibility of several weeks are likely to occur. Besides, all marine operation such as installation, maintenance and decommissioning are costly - especially nowadays, where the young Ocean Energy industry has to compete on scarce marine equipment with the oil and gas industry which is well known for its deep pockets.
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