Engineering news
Atlantis Resources made the loss during 2016, seeing a decrease of £9.3 million on the previous year’s profit. The Edinburgh company is behind the MeyGen project, an array of four windmill-like 1.5MW underwater turbines in a fast-flowing channel between Scotland’s northernmost coast and the island of Stroma.
Despite having far fewer turbines than large wind farms, such as the newly opened 32-windmill Burbo Bank extension, the MeyGen project could potentially harvest vast amounts of energy because sea water is far denser than air: a five knot ocean current has more kinetic energy than a 350km/h wind. The turbines first exported energy in November 2016, and Atlantis plans to install another 53 in the coming years.
Despite the start of operations, last year’s loss is “not particularly surprising” said Max Carcas from consultants Caelulum, who said Atlantis’ project is still “quite embryonic”. “Revenue is obviously from the generation of electricity, so it is only the first stage of what is eventually quite a large project,” he told Professional Engineering.
“While costs are high initially that is not surprising, that has always been the case for any energy source. It has never been economic out of the box, you have always needed the route for that technology to get a foothold. Looking at the big picture, it’s inevitable we will utilise the marine resource that is sitting here on our doorstep.”
However, he said there has so far been little government emphasis on the industry in comparison to other sectors such as nuclear, and that the strategy taken in the next decade will be key for tidal’s success.
EU funding for Atlantis projects will be maintained despite last year’s Brexit vote, said Atlantis chief executive Tim Cornelius, including €37 million of capital and revenue support for the next phase of the MeyGen array. He said Atlantis will continue to demonstrate “cost-reducing innovations,” allowing tidal power to compete against traditional alternatives.
Last year was “very challenging,” said Atlantis chairman John Mitchell Neill. However, the company still reported increased net assets, up to £66.6 million over the year from £57.7 million. Atlantis is planning new projects in Indonesia and South Korea and Neill said 2016 “cemented our reputation as the driving force behind a growing sector”.
“We are striving harder than ever to drive down costs to ensure that our power is an attractive economic choice in the short term as well as providing a host of social and environmental benefits,” he said. “We continue to make excellent progress in our ambition to provide sustainable and predictable green energy on a commercial scale, and to do so wherever there is available tidal resource.”
Atlantis Resources have been contacted for further comment.