Nova Innovation has been selected to lead a new €20 million (£17.6m) tidal energy project off the Shetland Islands.

The Scottish-based tidal energy leader will head up a consortium of nine leading European industrial, academic and research organisations to expand a operational tidal power station in Bluemull Sound.

The Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal (EnFAIT) scheme, which begins in July, will see six turbines added to Nova's site, which was the world's first grid- connected offshore array of tidal energy turbines.

The project is a flagship initiative for the EU and marine energy, and aims to increase the commercial viability of tidal power. The layout of the turbines will be adjusted to enable array interactions and optimisation to be studied for the very first time at an operational tidal energy site.

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The EU Horizon 2020 Programme will be contribute €14.9m (£13.1m) towards the scheme, which is scheduled to be completed by June 2022.

Speaking of the EnFAIT project, Simon Forrest, Chief Executive Officer of Nova Innovation, said: "Winning the EnFAIT project in this very competitive call represents a huge vote of confidence in the ability of Nova Innovation and its partners to deliver. The project will make a major contribution to reducing the lifetime costs of tidal energy, and will boost investor confidence by providing hard- edged analytics of commercial and operational performance to inform investment decisions.

"Being able to provide evidence of our technology delivered and working in real grid-connected conditions was crucial to our winning the EnFAIT project. Our cost control and cost reduction planning were equally decisive. We are looking forward to achieving further world-class results, working with our consortium partners.

Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe labelled the project an important pathfinder for the tidal energy industry in Europe.

He said: "This announcement is a significant development, and further proof that the tidal energy industry is now in take-off mode. The EnFAIT project is an important pathfinder project and will help strengthen Europe’s global technology leadership in tidal energy.

"The knowledge, experience and expertise gained from projects like this will pave the way for a new industrial manufacturing sector with a supply chain based firmly in Europe."

(LM/MH)