TWO turbines in the Pentland Firth have set a new world record for a month’s production of renewable electricity from tidal power.
Confirming that Scotland has a world-beating lead in tidal power development, Atlantis Resources announced yesterday that even before the month is over their two turbines had produced 700 MW hours of electricity in August – comfortably a world record and enough to power 2000 homes.
In total, the turbines have now produced 2GW hours of electricity since their launch earlier this year, with more good news as Atlantis also confirmed that a third turbine was re-installed at the MeyGen site in the Inner Sound in recent days.
It gives hope that Atlantis will soon go on to complete Phase 1A of their £50 million MeyGen project in its entirety, with four turbines producing 6MW of electricity possibly by the end of next month.
All three turbines already in place – manufactured by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest – had been recovered from the sea earlier this year for improvements to be made, and all three have been put back in the Pentland Firth and re-connected to the National Grid.
The group said the fourth and final Phase 1A turbine had experienced some minor delays in receiving upgrade components and was now expected to be reinstalled during the next neap – very low – tide in late September.
Atlantis added that this turbine would then enter into its final contractual performance and autonomous reliability tests after which it would be signed off for commencement of long-term operation.
Atlantis, which has contracts for similar developments in South Korea, Indonesia and France, has always maintained that MeyGen would prove Scotland’s capacity for tidal power.
Director of project delivery at MeyGen David Taaffe said: “The production performance from the installed turbines on the MeyGen project has been very good.
“August proved to be a world record month, providing enough energy to power 2000 Scottish homes from just two turbines.
“With yet another successful installation campaign expertly completed this week by the Atlantis operations team, we expect to continue to break records throughout the rest of the year generating both predictable power and revenue.”
MeyGen’s success will feature strongly at Scottish Renewables’ Marine Conference and Exhibition which is being held in in Inverness on September 12 and 13 and will feature an update from Cameron Smith, director of project development at Atlantis Resources.
Hannah Smith, policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: “The tides that flow through the Pentland Firth are some of the most powerful anywhere on earth and harnessing them has meant using machines and skills which have never before been tested on a commercial scale.
“This latest record is just one in a long line for the MeyGen project, which is leading the world in tidal energy deployment. If the determination and ingenuity shown to date are anything to go by, it won’t be the last.”
WWF Scotland’s acting director Dr Sam Gardner hailed the record as “a really exciting moment” for renewable energy.
He said: “This is a sign that Scotland is really making progress in harnessing the power of our seas and that we’re on our way to securing a low carbon future.
“By supporting projects like this one, which provide clean, predictable, home-grown power, the Scottish Government can help fight climate change, strengthen our energy security and drive further job creation in sustainable industries.”
Atlantis has received backing from both the Scottish Government and the European Union.
The next phase of the MayGen project has already secured a further €20m from the EU’s Horizon 2020 project as well as €17m from the NER300 project which funds innovation in low-carbon energy production.
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