Marine Current Turbines
UK business
Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT), was a United Kingdom-based company that developed tidal stream generators, most notably the 1.2 MW SeaGen turbine. The company was bought by the German automation company, Siemens in 2012, who later sold the company to Atlantis Resources in 2015.
History
MCT was founded in 2000 to develop ideas of tidal power developed by Peter Fraenkel, who had previously been a founder partner of IT Power, a consultancy established to further the development of sustainable energy technologies. The company was based in Bristol and employed 15 people in 2007.
By 2003, MCT had installed a 300 kW experimental tidal turbine 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northeast of Lynmouth, Devon and by 2008 they had a 1.2 MW turbine, SeaGen, in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland which was able to feed electricity into the National Grid.
They had contracts to install a full tidal farm in the Skerries, off northwest Wales, and projects in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, however these projects never progressed.
In February 2012, Siemens acquired a majority share in the company, raising its holding from 45% to over 90%. MCT was wholly owned by Siemens, as part of the Hydro and Ocean Business, before being transferred to the Renewables business, and finally divested to Atlantis Resources in 2015 who effectively shut the company down.
Technology
The technology developed by MCT works much the same as a submerged windmill, driven by the flow of water rather than air. Tidal flows are more predictable than air flows both in time and maximum velocity, therefore, it is possible to bring designs closer to the theoretical maximum.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Marine Current Turbines” is uK business. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Marine, Current and Turbines, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “uK business” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6764129. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2015, 2000 and 2007.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Marine Current Turbines”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Marine Current Turbines primary sources, Marine Current Turbines archive and Marine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marine Current Turbines”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Marine Current Turbines” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.