World's Biggest Tidal Stream Project to Add Two New Turbines

(Bloomberg) -- Simec Atlantis Energy Ltd., a renewable energy developer, announced a plan to extend its tidal stream project in Scotland by adding two new turbines.

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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Hirtenstein in London at ahirtenstein@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Rob Verdonck

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