TRIALS of a tidal-powered generator, which could ultimately inject £1bn into the North-East economy, are due to get under way this week.

The £1.8m Stingray machine, which is designed and built on Tyneside, is being positioned off the Shetland Isles this week, ahead of a year-long series of tests.

If the steam generator, which uses tidal power to produce electricity, proves a success it could lead to an order for a thousand of the generators - meaning to up to £1bn of investment and hundreds of jobs in the region.

It is one of a series of projects being looked at by the Government, which is keen to find more ways of generating power through renewable sources.

The prototype was built in a joint venture by the Department of Trade and Industry and specialist marine engineering firm, Engineering Business (EB), of Wallsend, Newcastle.

The company was set up five years ago and employs about 50 people, with an annual turnover of £8m.

Dr Tony Trapp, EB managing director, recognised the project was a gamble.

"This is still a very new area. It is a very ambitious programme, done in a very short space of time and on a very tight budget," he said.

"This is an incredibly complex operation. Even getting it successfully on to the sea bed will be a feather in our cap."

Standing at more than 20m high, the Stingray is bigger than the Angel of the North and weighs in at 185 tonnes.

Once installed, it will sit on the seabed and use a series of hydroplanes to extract power from tidal movements.

The machine had to be dismantled at Wallsend in June, before it could begin its long sea journey by barge to the Shetlands.

The crew on the barge, the Harry McGill, will use four anchors each weighing six tonnes to keep the vessel steady while the machine is lowered.

The first results on its performance are expected by next month, at which time the barge is expected to be removed.

And plans to expand the project are already going ahead.

On Monday, Dr Trapp submitted a bid for £10m to fund a cluster of the machines, forming a submarine power station. If successful, the station is expected to be in operation by 2004.