The fourth and final tidal turbine for the Phase 1A of the MeyGen tidal energy project has been deployed and energized at the project site in the Pentland Firth, Scotland.
The Atlantis AR1500 tidal stream turbine was deployed in less than 60 minutes following earlier connection of its proprietary wet mate connection management system, the developer behind the project Atlantis Resources informed.
The installation was conducted by Mojo Maritime, who with this deployment marked its 15th tidal turbine installation, as it re-brands to James Fisher Marine Services. The deployment followed the installation of the four foundation structures by GeoSea.
The AR1500 turbine system was designed under contract by Lockheed Martin, tested and commissioned at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s facility in Blyth and finally loaded out from the project’s operations and maintenance base at Nigg Energy Park in Scotland.
It is the fourth turbine that has been deployed offshore and connected to the grid onshore at a control building at Ness of Quoys in Caithness.
This building has been grid-connected since June 2016 and it is at this location that the power from the project is converted and combined to form a 6MW grid compliant tidal stream power station which directly supplies energy to the local electricity distribution network in Caithness.
With the installation of the fourth turbine, the first phase of the MeyGen project, which has a total planned build out of almost 400MW, has been completed. Construction for the next 6MW phase is due to begin later this year.