Tidal energy giant Simec Atlantis Energy has successfully completed upgrade and maintenance work on the “world’s most powerful turbine”.
And the Edinburgh-headquartered company confirmed on Monday that the AR1500, 1.5 megawatt (MW) unit has been redeployed at the MeyGen site off the Scottish coast.
It takes the number of fully operational turbines at the development to two.
Work is ongoing to redeploy the other two turbines – which are out of the water for maintenance and repair – and they’re expected to back in action with a year.
MeyGen claims to be the largest fully consented tidal stream site in the world.
London-listed Simec Atlantis (LON: SAE) says it is continuing to work with government and industry partners to unlock its full potential, delivering a 400MW green and predictable power station.
Graham Reid, the company’s chief executive, said: “I am extremely proud of the team and all the work that went in to ensure this successful re-deployment. This is another milestone that demonstrates that the industry is continuing to learn and develop, and I am delighted that our turbine is back where it belongs. Our ambition is to deliver more turbines in the water for the benefit of our business, our economy and the planet and we continue our work in collaboration with Government and the industry to deliver this.”
Deployed in some of the fastest flowing waters in the UK, just over a mile off Scotland’s north coast, MeyGen is being built in a number of stages.
In 2018, the first four turbines for the project formally entered their 25-year operations phase.
As of 2020, a total of 24.7 gigawatt hours (GWh) of green energy had been exported to the grid.
Work on the second phase of the project, creating a subsea hub that will allow multiple turbines to be connected to a single power export cable, is currently ongoing.
Financial services firm Longspure Research said: “The reinstallation of one of the MeyGen turbines is an obvious positive for the company as it brings in missing revenue, allowing the project to tap high prices with more capacity.
“Two further turbines remain in maintenance but the company hopes to reinstall these within the next twelve months.
“We see this progress as helpful, not least in providing additional income as the company prepares for the auction of new capacity at the site under the Contract for Difference scheme.”
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