India to install 'Asia's first commercial-scale tidal power station' in Gujarat

New Delhi, Jan 19 (ANI): India is planning to install Asia's first commercial-scale tidal power station off the coast of Gujarat.

Atlantis Resources, a UK engineering firm specializing in underwater turbines, would install a 50MW tidal farm in the Gulf of Kutch, and begin the construction works early in 2012, the BBC reports.

The Indian project would require outrunning developments at Sihwa Lake, a South Korean tidal barrage under construction on the country's west coast, to claim the title of "Asia's first" commercial-scale tidal power station, the report said.

A recent study by Atlantis has claimed that Gujarat has the good potential to initiate a tidal power station.

"About two and a half years ago we ran a global study of tidal power resources and came up with some hotspots where resource seemed pretty well matched to load. One of them was the Gulf of Kutch - and since then we've had wonderful support from the government, culminating in the announcement that the project was going ahead," Atlantis CEO Tim Cornelius said.

The proposed project is estimated to cost about 150 million dollars, and expected to be completed by 2013.

DJ Pandian, Chairman and Managing Director of Gujarat Power Corporation, said that Gujarat has enough resources in the waters of its coast to go ahead with the axploration.

"This project will be India's and indeed Asia's first at commercial scale, and will deliver important economic and environmental benefits for the region, as well as paving the way for similar developments within Gujarat," Pandian added.

In October last year, a consortium including Atlantis was given the right to develop a tidal farm involving about 400 turbines in the Pentland Firth in Scotland, which is expected to be the world's biggest. (ANI)