Tidal energy developer Atlantis Resources is to go ahead with the second phase of its MeyGen tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth off Scotland, the firm announced this morning.
The project, called Project Stroma, or MeyGen Phase 1B, will be run by Atlantis subsidiary Stroma Tidal Power (STPL).
STPL carried out a competitive tender process for the project construction contracts, which has led to the investment decision and enables the project to proceed to construction in 2017, says Atlantis.
"This next phase of the MeyGen site development is an important step in demonstrating progress to a lower cost of energy for tidal stream," the firm says.
Project Stroma will include larger diameter rotors, compared to the four already installed, in order to capture more energy from the tidal flow, as well as optimized turbine power ratings.
Furthermore, Project Stroma will use drilled foundation structures, rather than the material intensive gravity foundations used in MeyGen Phase 1A. The turbines will be provided by Marine Current Turbines, which was purchased by Atlantis from Siemens in 2015 in an all-share deal.
Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis, said: “The lessons we have learned from Phase 1A and the confidence it has given to both us and our supply chain allow us to deliver significant improvements and refinements in this next phase. We believe these improvements will yield more electricity for each pound of investment and represent a material step down our cost reduction curve. STPL has been working towards this investment decision in line with the specified programme for the NER300 fund, which has awarded €16.8 million of grant support to Project Stroma.”