James Fisher and Sons bags its first tidal energy project

James Fisher and Sons has secured what it says is its first tidal energy project as part of which it will manage high-voltage equipment and cables at Menter Môn’s Morlais tidal energy substations in the UK.

James Fisher and Sons will manage, repair and maintain high-voltage equipment and cables at two of Menter Môn’s Morlais tidal energy substations in Anglesey.

Having commenced in December 2023, the contract is due to span 24 months initially and will see James Fisher provide asset repair and maintenance services at the site through high voltage equipment testing and enhanced diagnostic testing. In addition, the company will continually monitor safety measures to support informed decision-making for Menter Môn.

“Tidal energy can provide a continuous generation of energy, so it is imperative that we ensure the assets are reliable. Through working with the local supply chain and industry collaboration, our multi-skilled teams will deliver a complete high-voltage equipment testing solution to Morlais,” said Chris Rawnsley, Head of Operations and Asset Management at James Fisher.

“This exciting project is the first of its kind for us. We are honoured to be a trusted partner to Menter Môn and look forward to applying our renewables expertise to a new type of power generation system, and contributing to the delivery of another 240 MW of energy into the grid.”

The Morlais tidal power project is the first and largest consented plug and play tidal stream energy scheme in Europe. The system provides eight plug-in developer sites where power generation systems and tidal energy devices will be connected, sending power to the grid via two land-based substations.

The energy generated by the project has the potential to reach 240 MW (30 MW per plug-in site), enough to power 180,000 typical households. Morlais recently saw the official opening of its landfall substation.

The project has been backed by the European Regional Development fund through the Welsh Government and has received support from the Isle of Anglesey County Council, The NDA and the North Wales Growth Deal.

With the addition of Menter Môn’s Morlais tidal energy project, James Fisher’s global operations and maintenance portfolio reached 7.9 GW throughout 2023.