The marine renewable energy company Atlantis Resources Corporation has announced a new global partnership with Lockheed Martin on order to deliver a new commercial scale tidal energy project. The two companies have worked together before on various projects and have now signed an agreement covering a worldwide systems integration alliance, in addition to design and engineering services, which will initially support the development and delivery of the Atlantis AR1500 turbine system.
The agreement runs concurrently with a contract for AR1500 turbine design and engineering services and provides for Lockheed Martin’s investment in tidal energy technology and joint projects through design, component development and systems integration services. The agreement also covers the design and demonstration of the first AR1500 turbine nacelle, to be deployed at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE). The two companies have collaborated on this project since 2011 with Lockheed Martin responsible for the provision of engineering design elements, procurement of major components, systems integration and testing of the turbine. In February this year Atlantis received a $5 million grant for the project from the Sustainable Development Technologies Canada Fund and the company is working towards a planned deployment date in 2015.
Both companies are also working together on the delivery of the Energy Technologies Institute TEC demonstrator programme which aims to bring a step-change reduction in the cost of deploying tidal turbines in commercial arrays. The agreement will support the future delivery of Atlantis turbines to the MeyGen project in the Pentland Firth, Scotland, currently the largest tidal stream project under development having received final planning consent earlier this month.
“This is an important day in the history of Atlantis” said Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis Resources. “Having worked with Lockheed Martin on numerous projects in the past, I am very pleased to today be able to announce that they will now provide their engineering and design services for our new AR1500 turbine and will be our global systems integration partner going forward. As one of the world’s leading industrial players, with more than 40 years of experience in designing and developing maritime systems, the fact that Lockheed Martin has chosen to team with Atlantis as our global design and system integration partner will allow us to further enhance our technology, project pipeline and the capabilities of our team.”
Tim Fuhr, director of ocean energy programmes at Lockheed Martin added that the partnership between the two companies will bring technology and skills to leverage the power of the ocean and provide access to affordable and secure renewable energy.
Further information:
