SIMEC Atlantis Tidal Development Project Gets €1M Push

SIMEC Atlantis has signed a grant agreement with EASME for €1 million in grant funding to support its tidal turbine technology and its MeyGen project supply chain partner Asturfeito.

On October 30th 2018, Atlantis announced its plans to enhance the existing 6MW MeyGen project.

This grant should support the innovations required to take the MeyGen project enhancement forward with a specific focus on the turbine upgrades needed to utilise the subsea hub and shared export cable.

The project will start in January 2019 and take two years.

Drew Blaxland, director of Turbine and Engineering Services of SIMEC Atlantis Energy, said:

“The AR1500 turbine installed at the MeyGen project in 2017 marked the first commercial scale turbine installed in a tidal array. Following this successful deployment and record breaking operation of the AR1500 turbine we now look to the future and where opportunities to reduce the LCOE exist. This grant agreement and support from the Sustainable Blue Economy call allows us to accelerate one of our key LCOE cost reduction initiatives.”

Ricardo Rodriguez, general manager of Asturfeito SAU, stated:

“This project represents a great opportunity for Asturfeito to enter a promising renewable energy sector partnering with key player SIMEC Atlantis. By providing our experience in subsea, oil & gas and offshore wind from the design stage, and using our capability to manufacture, integrate and test complex assemblies, we can support the development of cost effective turbines.“