TIDAL ENERGY NEW INSTALLATION:DUBLIN-BASED tidal-stream energy firm Openhydro has invested €5 million in a specialist barge to install seabed tidal turbines.

The barge, which was commissioned by the company last year, has heavy lifting capacity and is called the Openhydro Installer. It has been designed and custom-built so that it can lower the bases on which turbines are mounted onto the ocean floor.

Last month the company successfully placed a turbine directly onto the seabed at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland.

This is a significant stage in making tidal turbines commercially viable, according to chairman Brendan Gilmore.

"Being able to deploy tidal turbines in this manner turns a difficult and lengthy project of many months into a quick and cost-efficient single day operation. It is a major step forward towards commercial tidal farms," he said.

The company is also currently in the process of recruiting 10 new technical and operational staff.