ATLANTIS RESOURCES ACQUIRES EUROPE’S LARGEST TIDAL ENERGY PROJECT

21st November 2013

Marine energy leader buys out MeyGen JV partners following award of offshore planning approval.

International tidal technology and project developer Atlantis Resources Limited has today announced its acquisition of MeyGen, Europe’s largest tidal power project. Having already held 10% of the company developing the project, MeyGen Limited, Atlantis has elected to acquire the remaining equity from its joint venture partners Morgan Stanley and GDF SUEZ. Morgan Stanley will remain as Atlantis Resources’ largest shareholder.

The announcement comes shortly after the MeyGen project received its offshore planning consents from the Scottish Government, a key milestone in the development timetable which significantly de-risks the project’s delivery. Atlantis will now work with the Scottish Government, Department for Energy and Climate Change and The Crown Estate towards commissioning of the first MeyGen turbines in 2015.

Commenting on the announcement, Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer of Atlantis Resources said: “The size, location and tidal resource of MeyGen make it one of the most exciting marine energy projects under development anywhere in the world and Atlantis has been considering increasing the size of its shareholding for some time, subject to the award of consents. Now that the project has cleared this major regulatory hurdle, it is the logical time for us to do so.

“Having first established the MeyGen project back in 2006, we are very pleased to again have overall control of the project as the lead project developer, as we enter the final straight towards first array deployment. We are hugely excited about the site’s potential and look forward to continuing to work with the existing project team on its successful realisation.”

John Woodley of Morgan Stanley commented: “Now that the MeyGen project has achieved offshore consents it makes sense for control of the project to revert back to Atlantis Resources. We continue to be a shareholder in Atlantis and remain involved and supportive of its development plans both in the Pentland Firth, and elsewhere around the world.”

Commenting further on Atlantis’ rationale for the acquisition, Cornelius said: “Although attractive in itself, ownership of MeyGen will also serve one of Atlantis’ wider strategic objectives. We are already actively working on sites in Canada, India and China, and are exploring options in several other locations around the world.

“Taking full ownership of MeyGen will allow us to further strengthen our credentials as a leading developer of tidal power projects which complements our other principal activity as a turbine developer with our technology partner, Lockheed Martin. We will seek to consolidate our position as one of the leading marine energy companies by building our project development pipeline in the UK, Europe, North America and the Far East in the coming years.”

At 398MW MeyGen is the largest tidal energy project in Europe. Located in the Inner Sound development zone of Scotland’s Pentland Firth, the project was first proposed by Atlantis Resource’s project origination team in 2006. The 3.5 sq. km area site is being developed in multiple stages, with first power expected in late 2015 or early 2016.