MeyGen tidal project moves forward

Construction on Europe's largest tidal energy project to begin this year

Tidal power specialist Atlantis Resources has said it is ready to start construction of its flagship MeyGen project in Scotland in the second half of this year.

The announcement comes following the release of its first set of full-year results since joining Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in February. The results for 2013 showed its revenue more than doubled from £1.4 million to £2.9 million, but with losses widening from £5.75 million to £6.5 million.

Tim Cornelius, chief executive of Atlantis said: “Following the successful fundraising and admission to AIM in February 2014, the group is well placed to continue the development of its cornerstone MeyGen project in Scotland.

“We have made significant progress since February in finalising the construction and supply contracts for MeyGen, and in reaching agreement with the project funding syndicate in readiness for financial close and the commencement of construction for Phase 1A in the second half of 2014.

"Excellent progress has been made on the detailed design of our AR1500 turbine with Lockheed Martin with the program on track for completion in October of this year and the first AR1500 turbine to be installed at MeyGen in the second half of 2015.”

Phase 1A at the Pentland Firth site will feature a single AR1500 tidal turbine developed in-house by Atlantis with technology partner Lockheed Martin, and three HS1500 units supplied by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest, with first power set to be delivered by 2016.

Phase 1 has consent to generate up to 86MW and will see the installation of further AR1500s over the next few years. Once completed, the MeyGen project is expected to deliver up to 400MW of power, enough energy to power 200,000 homes.

The AR1500 has a rated capacity of 1.5MW at 3.0 m/s and is designed to withstand the extreme environmental conditions expected to be encountered in the Pentland Firth in Scotland. The AR1500 system features pitching blades and full nacelle yaw rotation capability to facilitate operation in highly energetic deployment locations.

Atlantis is the 100% owner of MeyGen Limited, the company developing the MeyGen Project in Scotland following its acquisition of shares from Morgan Stanley and GDF Suez subsidiary International Power Marine Developments in October last year for £386,000.

Atlantis has its headquarters in Singapore and is also working on tidal projects in China, Canada, India and Australia.