Scotland's first minister unveils turbine for MeyGen tidal project

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday unveiled the first fully assembled turbine for the 398-MW MeyGen free stream tidal power project developed by a unit of Singapore-based Atlantis Resources Ltd (LON:ARL).

MeyGen’s Phase 1A will consist of four 1.5-MW turbines that are now fully assembled. Three of them were fabricated by Andritz Hydro and one was made by Atlantis itself. They will be positioned on top of their foundation structures on the quayside at Nigg Energy Park. Subsequently, the Neptune jack-up vessel operated by Geoseas will transport them for deployment at the site in the Pentland Firth.

The first of the machines was unveiled by the minister at a ceremony held today. Commenting on this milestone, Sturgeon urged the UK government to honour its previous pledge to provide a ring-fenced allocation for marine energy in its renewables support scheme.

“They must tackle the current uncertainty that exists before they cause irreparable damage to the long term prospects for the sector,” she said.

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Unprecedented world wide interest this morning after the release of this video. Thank you for all if your enquiries!

— Atlantis Resources (@atlantisresplc) September 12, 2016

The whole MeyGen tidal power plant will consist of 269 turbines. It is estimated to generate enough electricity to meet the annual consumption of about 175,000 UK households. First power is expected to be generated later this year.

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