The MeyGen facility currently has a capacity of 6 megawatts, and the extension will bring it to 10 megawatts, according to an emailed statement. It’s partially funded by a 16.8 million-euro ($19 million) support package from the European Commission. Atlantis is trying to bring costs down by using bigger rotors, more powerful generators, and a single export cable.
This extension “will be an important enabler for the subsequent extension of the MeyGen site by a further 80 megawatts, and ultimately to the full site capacity of 400 megawatts,” said Chief Executive Officer Tim Cornelius. “Nearby sites in the Pentland Firth offer significant further growth potential.”
Atlantis is planning for the MeyGen project eventually to reach capacity of 398 megawatts. The project entered into the U.K.’s renewable energy auction last year. It was unsuccessful in competing against offshore wind, a technology that has seen its costs fall more rapidly than tidal power.
Last year, the company consolidated with Simec, a member of the GFG Alliance run by the Gupta family. They are also working on converting a coal plant in Wales to burn a pellet made from a mix of waste plastic and biomass.
Joint Venture
In addition to the announcement about the two additional turbines, Simec Atlantic Energy also announced a joint venture with Development Agency for Normandy (AD Normandy), the regional agency for economic development in Normandy and regional investment fund Normandie Participations, for the purpose of developing a large-scale project in Raz Blanchard, Normandie.
The JV, called, Normandie Hydrolienne has been established with the intention of eventually harnessing up to 2 GW of power from the Alderney Race, the eight-mile strait that runs between Alderney and La Hague, France, as well as more than 1 GW of resource from adjacent concessions under the control of the States of Alderney.
Read more at Progress Continues on World's Biggest Tidal Stream Project
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