SCOTRENEWABLES Tidal Power has announced a £7.6 million funding package to develop its technology.

Norwegian shipping company Fred Olsen, French oil and gas multinational Total and Swiss technology giant ABB Technology Ventures are all investing while the Scottish Government is putting in £1.24m of grant funding.

Scotrenewables, based in Orkney will, use the cash to build, install and test a tidal turbine, called the SR2000.

A 33 metre long 250 kilowatt floating prototype, called the SR250 and weighing 100 tonnes, has been running at the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney since March 2011.

Scotrenewables is a renewable energy technology research and development business.