Hull's iconic 'The Deep' aquarium has gone green with the installation of a tidal energy plant to help power the popular tourist attraction and research centre.
The aquarium, which sits on the banks of the Humber estuary in Yorkshire has taken advantage of its shore side location, and with the help of tidal power company Neptune Renewable Energy has harnessed the river's powerful flow to help provide clean, renewable power.
The 'Neptune Proteus' was deployed into the estuary's waters in late January, and has since been connected to the aquarium's control room via a 60m long jetty and once fully commissioned is expected to be able to supply up to half of the attraction's electrical power requirements.
The device is a full scale demonstrator model and the result of five years of work by Neptune who now hope to be able to deploy further arrays of the devices in the Humber in the next two years.
Nigel Petrie, chairman of the company said: "The development of the Neptune Proteus has paved the way for the design of our production model, arrays of which will provide a dedicated supply of clean power to major industries located on the Humber estuary and other suitable British locations. Supplying power to our first customer, The Deep, presents us with a great opportunity to raise the profile of our technology and of the potential for tidal stream power generation to make a significant contribution to meeting both commercial and domestic electricity demands."
The Deep was opened in 2002 and is home to over 3,500 fish including seven species of shark, all housed in over 2,500,000 l. of water contained within the iconic riverside building.
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