ScottishPower is testing a turbine with a 100-foot blade diameter on the seabed off the Orkney Islands, planning for it to generate a megawatt of power, according to the Mail on Sunday newspaper in England.
The utility installed the turbine late last year in preparation for tests that have begun this year.
The project is part of preparations for an array of machines on the seal floor in the Sound of Islay if the current tests prove it is feasible. ScottishPower said it hopes to begin installing the larger project in a 2013-15 window.
