The agreement marks the start of ETI Tidal Energy Converter Project (TEC) Phase 2 of the multi-turbine tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth, Scotland. This will see two Atlantis-owned 1.5MW commercial tidal energy turbines installed on an innovative foundation structure, thereby increasing the rated capacity of the arry from 6MW to 9MW. This will in turn generate enough power to support 4,500 local homes.
The project follows Atlantis Resources recently funded 6MW tidal turbine array at the MeyGen site which was negotiated separately. TEC Phase 1 was originally commissioned in May 2012 following a competitive tender won by Atlantis. It adopted a total system lifetime cost of energy methodology to identify, develop and prove tidal energy system technologies capable of significantly reducing cost of energy and of being deployed at array scale. This enabled ETI to develop a patent-pending turbine foundation design which will be deployed during TEC Phase 2.
TEC Phase 2 will consist of three stages, commencing with detailed design, fabrication and installation of the foundation structure and associated technologies. Atlantis will supply the turbines and electrical connection to the local grid.
“Phase 2 of the Tidal Energy Converter project will see Atlantis expand its turbine array at the MeyGen site at Scotland and the scale of commercial marine energy generation in the UK” said Tim Cornelius, Atlantis CEO. “The ETI funded technologies to be designed and built as part of this Project have the potential to substantially reduce the cost of energy of installed commercial turbines – improving the economics of tidal energy as part of the UK’s energy mix.”
Jonathan Wills, Director, Programme Delivery at the ETI added that the results of the first phase of the project have provided a number of innovations across the array system architectures and their operation and the potential impact in the cost of the energy produced. Phase 2 will demonstrate the innovations at a real site and the project should further enhance industry and investor confidence in tidal energy, helping to unlock its potential as a serious contributor to further energy systems.
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