Belfast's iconic Harland and Wolff (H&W) shipyard has been awarded a contract to build a new tidal turbine for testing.

The prototype will be produced for Orkney-based Scotrenewables (Marine Power) Ltd and the 80-tonne device - which uses rotors to generate power - will be placed in the Scottish islands.

Harland and Wolff Engineering Manager Fred Black said: "Our input was to assist their engineers to develop the design to make it production friendly. This makes it cheaper and enhances quality."

Scotrenewables Project Leader Mark Hamilton said he was pleased with progress so far: "This is a great achievement for us and is testament to the hard work and dedication of all the team. There is a lot of hard work left to do in proving the long-term viability of our technology but testing to date has produced very promising results.

"The market for our technology both in the UK and worldwide is huge - we aim to be at the forefront of the future tidal energy industry."

The SR250 prototype is 30 metres long and will produce 250kw of energy from the tide. It has two 8-metre diameter rotors and will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre test facility in the Orkneys.

Mr Hamilton added: "We have chosen Harland & Wolff to construct the SR250 prototype because of their outstanding pedigree in the field of shipbuilding, offshore oil and gas and, more recently, offshore renewables.

"Their project support to date has been extremely valuable and we look forward to completing construction at their facilities by the end of this year."

Robin Newton East Belfast DUP MLA said the announcement that H&W has been awarded a contract to build a prototype tidal turbine for Scottish company Scotrenewables is extremely good news.

"This high-tech futuristic industry is extremely competitive and to win this contract will increase the company's confidence and open other doors of business opportunity.

"Winning this piece of work is testament to the skills of the management and employees and at a time of difficulty for Northern Ireland's manufacturing base it is indeed pleasing news," he said.

(BMcC/GK)