SIMEC Atlantis appoints MeyGen chief as tidal power project makes progress

SIMEC Atlantis Energy has made ‘good progress’ in the delivery of its commercial-scale tidal energy array at MeyGen site in Scotland.

The next phase at the MeyGen site will see SIMEC Atlantis deliver an additional 28MW of predictable, renewable power.

To take overall responsibility for the delivery of Phase 2, SIMEC Atlantis has appointed Mark Evans as project development director. Evans brings over 20 years of renewable energy development and delivery experience, including the development of over 1GW of wind projects.

The company has also announced that it had appointed Lumin Capital, an international corporate finance advisory firm, as financial advisor for MeyGen Phase 2 to advise on securing the necessary financing for the project.

Lumin Capital brings extensive experience of working with project developers on projects around the world to enhance shareholder value and secure funding, and according to SIMEC Atlantis, the advisory firm is expected to be a key part of the team in ensuring the success of MeyGen phase 2.

Furthermore, SIMEC Atlantis said it had also been active at the MeyGen site, completing resource surveys which provide vital data to better understand the tidal resource across the site to allow for the detailed design of the project.

In October 2022, the company successfully deployed an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), a tidal flow measurement device, at the MeyGen site.

The ADCP will remain deployed for a month to record a full lunar cycle’s worth of data.

SIMEC Atlantis said it combined the fixed deployed ADCP with vessel-mounted ADCP surveys to better understand the variable flows across the site. The company added it is working with Fraser Nash Consultancy and the University of Edinburgh on this analysis and the tidal array design optimization work that will subsequently be conducted using this data.

Also, SIMEC Atlantis confirmed it remains on track to achieve financial close of the MeyGen Phase 2 project in 2024, with operation expected to start in 2027.

To remind, SIMEC Atlantis recently sold a majority stake in its Advanced Tidal Engineering and Services division (ATES), which resulted in the creation of a new tidal energy outfit Proteus Marine Renewables.

The sale represents management buyout, while SIMEC Atlantis retained a minority shareholding in the newly established Proteus which will focus on growing product and services offering across a broader scope of marine renewables, whilst keeping its immediate focus on tidal energy.

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