03 Mar 2012

Tocardo International, the leading Dutch producer of tidal and free-flow water turbines, announces the start of a strategic long-term partnership with Huisman.

Huisman is an international designer and manufacturer of construction equipment for the on-and offshore industry. New shares have been issued, giving Huisman a minority stake in the business. In addition to the investment, Huisman will offer expertise and experience in construction and engineering which will positively add to Tocardo’s international business position as one of the leaders in the construction of tidal free-flow water turbines.

The new inflow of funds will be used for further technological developments in Tocardo’s offshore technology. Commenting on the strategic partnership, Hans van Breugel, CEO of Tocardo said: “We have recently reached the stage of full commercialisation of the building and marketing of our smaller turbines. This agreement is the next step in our plan to scale up our business and gain first-mover advantage in this fast-changing sector. There is a lot of international interest in tidal and in-stream power generation and we are one of the first companies to have commercially available products that are already being sold. Huisman’s investment and partnership will help us realise the full potential of this opportunity.”

Last month, Tocardo announced that it is currently manufacturing six free-flow water turbines for Nepal and Japan as part of the partnership agreements announced in March to supply 8MW of bi-directional turbine power over a three-year period to Japan and, in June, to supply 2.5MW of uni-directional turbine power to Nepal’s fast-flowing rivers. These are among the first to be sold in this relatively new but highly promising segment of renewable energy. The Tocardo free-flow in-stream hydro turbines can be compared to ‘underwater wind turbines’: free-standing underwater units, generating energy from sea currents, tidal and river flows. They are easy to install and are low-cost to maintain.