MeyGen Update - AR1500 Turbine Deployed in Record Time

20th February 2017

Atlantis, a global leader in the tidal power sector, is delighted to announce that the first AR1500 tidal stream turbine has been deployed and energised at the MeyGen project site in the Pentland Firth, Scotland. The Atlantis AR1500 tidal stream turbine was successfully deployed in less than 60 minutes following earlier connection of its proprietary wet mate connection management system, which allows for rapid deployment and retrieval of the tidal stream turbine. This follows the announcement in November 2016 that first power had been delivered to the grid from the first of the three Andritz Hydro Hammerfest tidal stream turbines.

The AR1500 is the fourth turbine that has been deployed offshore and connected to the grid onshore at a control building at Ness of Quoys in Caithness. This building has been grid connected since June 2016 and it is at this location that the power from the project is converted and combined to form a 6MW grid compliant tidal stream power station which directly supplies energy to the local electricity distribution network in Caithness.

This is the first phase of the MeyGen project which has a total planned build out of almost 400MW. Construction for the next 6MW phase is due to commence later this year.

The AR1500 turbine system was designed under contract by Lockheed Martin Corporation, tested and commissioned at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult's facility in Blyth and finally loaded out from the project's operations and maintenance base at Nigg Energy Park in Scotland.

The turbine and cable installation works were carried out by James Fisher Marine Services Limited and followed the installation by GeoSea NV of the four foundation structures.

Atlantis is the indirect majority owner of the MeyGen project through its 92% shareholding in Tidal Power Scotland Limited, which owns 83.5% of MeyGen Limited alongside Scottish Enterprise (16.5%). Phase 1A of the MeyGen project was funded through a combination of debt, equity and grants from Atlantis, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Crown Estate and the former Department for Energy and Climate Change.