Simec Atlantis Energy Limited has announced that MeyGen – the world’s largest multi-megawatt tidal stream array – has now exported 17.5GWh of electricity to the national grid, eclipsing the previous record of approximately 11GWh.
In 2019 alone, the company said MeyGen exported over 7GWh of predictable renewable energy to the grid, equivalent to the average annual electricity consumption of over 2200 typical UK homes
Phase 1A of MeyGen operates with 5 ROCs and has generated £1.85m of revenue to date this calendar year. Total system availability, a key performance metric, is approaching 90% for 2019 to date and during Q2 2019 was recorded at almost 98%
2019 performance represents the longest period of uninterrupted generation from a multi-megawatt tidal turbine array ever achieved, Atlantis confirmed
“We are delighted to report the continued strong performance of the turbines at MeyGen. Uninterrupted production generates large volumes of valuable performance data which can be used to improve performance, optimise future system design and provide confidence to project financiers who will be called upon to fund our plans to expand this world-renowned project. Future phases will use the new AR2000 turbine we are proudly developing with GE and our new subsea hub which will further reduce costs and enhance efficiency,” commented Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis. “The MeyGen team is currently working on several initiatives to increase the installed capacity of the project so we can exploit fully the 398MW seabed lease. Full build out would represent a capacity which is 50% higher than Dounreay, the largest nuclear station in the Highlands of Scotland.”
In a statement, the company confirmed that its management is exploring options to establish private wire PPAs with local industrial loads to facilitate the build out of the array, which has a seabed lease for a total installed capacity of up to 398MW.
