Scottish Renewables Marine Energy annual conference in Inverness This Week

14th September 2017

As expected, Monday's announcement that the Government had turned down Atlantis RL's 'contracts for difference' bid for Phase 1C of its Inner Sound MeyGen project was a major talking point. It was for a 'small' c. 70 MW subsea tidal-stream tidal electricity power station, the first 'major' stage of its planned 400MW facility under the waters of the narrow strait between the N Caithness coast at Gills Bay and Stroma island. This was to be/have been the major move forwards 'under local waters' from the Demonstration 6 MW plant already installed and similar-size 6 MW Phase 1 B ... which now may or may not be built.

Background ; Naval Energies is the new name for the semi-state French tidal firm (formerly DCNS) which wholly-owned Open Hydro that it purchased from its original Irish developers ... The turbine is often called the 'polo=mint' design which differs from the better-known horizontal-axis turbines, such as the 1.5 MW ones installed off Gills and Nova's 100KW much smaller ones in Bluemill Sound in Shetland's North Isles.

Former President Hollande is a Normandy man and what is happening in Cherbourg and nearby Raz Blanchard (white-water tidal race) is often regarded as his legacy project.

The turbines assembly plant is now under construction at the major French (de facto state-owned) war-ship-building yard at Cherbourg and will be producing 25 turbines by end 2019, with 50 per year planned thereafter.

Thus the French and the Canadians (Bay of Fundy, NS has the highest rise-and-fall tidally in the World, with also very fast tidal currents close to the shore) are pushing ahead faster than UK with the relatively-new 'horizontal hydro' technology and Mr Tim Cornelius CEO of Atlantis RL has indicated that these countries will be a priority for investments, rather than NE Caithness or Global Energy's Nigg.

The concept had been that a 'permanent' tidal-turbine assembly facility was to have been built at Nigg to have produced 'economies of scale' and that may or may not happen now.

The MeyGen Inner Sound first four turbines were built under the ROCs 'subsidy' regime now overtaken by 'Contracts for Difference' . The 'subsidy' comes from UK electricity consumers on their bills and is designed to promote more 'green' power-stations to replace coal and even gas-fired plants. Some think that the failure of Atlantis RL questions the UK Government's commitment to 'green, marine electricity'.