Lin Dong (left), chief engineer and president of company LHD, signs a tidal power supply contract with Dai Tao (right), general manager of the State Grid Daishan Power Supply Co, on Aug 23. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

A 3.4-megawatt tidal electricity generator installed in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, recently started commercial operations, after a power supply contract was signed between LHD, developer and operator of the generator and the State Grid Daishan Power Supply Co on Aug 23. 

The project, which gave birth to the world's first tidal power generating station, is located in the sea off the southern coast of Xiushan Island in Daishan county.

The 3.4-megawatt LHD-developed tidal energy generating unit is located on Xiushan Island, Daishan county, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

It ranks first in the world in terms of installed capacity of 3.4 mW, beating the previous record of just 1.2 mW, and making China third in the world after the United Kingdom and the United States to have obtained tidal energy generation and grid connection technologies.

The project began construction in May 2014, with a 1 mW tidal generating unit launched in July 2016 and connected to the national grid a month later. The unit started generating power 24 hours a day on May 25, 2017.

With the second and third generations of tidal generating units being launched in 2018, the whole generator project had generated around 995,720 kilowatt hours of electricity as of July 20, 2019.

By Aug 26, the 1 mW tidal generating unit had been connected to the national grid for three years. It has easily beaten the previous world record held by a generator of this kind, which operated for less than four months.

According to Lin Dong, chief engineer and president of LHD, the guiding price of their tidal power was fixed at 2.58 yuan ($0.36) per kWh by the national authorities on June 20, before which there was no guiding price for tidal power in China.

"As a new energy form in China, tidal power is faced with two world-class difficulties: first, continuous power generation to the national grid, which we have already succeeded and second, enhanced power generation and reduced costs, which we will work on next," Lin said.

Lin added that tidal power is rich in Daishan, a kind of "local specialty" of the county, and that its use made a great difference to sustainable development of society.