Atlantis, a global leader in the tidal power sector, has announced that the first AR15001.5 megawatt tidal stream turbine has already successfully exported power to the grid and has operated at full power, following its deployment at the MeyGen project site in the Pentland Firth, Scotland.

The AR1500 system was developed by the Turbine and Engineering Services division within Atlantis and the nacelle was designed under contract by Lockheed Martin Corporation. The AR1500 is one of the most technologically advanced tidal turbines ever deployed on a commercial scale marine power project.

AR1500 turbine deployed in record time

The Atlantis AR1500 tidal stream turbine was successfully deployed in less than 60 minutes following earlier connection of its proprietary wet mate connection management system, which allows for rapid deployment and retrieval of the tidal stream turbine.

This follows the announcement in November 2016 that first power had been delivered to the grid from the first of the three Andritz Hydro Hammerfest tidal stream turbines.

The AR1500 is the fourth turbine that has been deployed offshore and connected to the grid onshore at a control building at Ness of Quoys in Caithness. The building has been grid connected since June 2016 and it is at this location that the power from the project is converted and combined to form a 6MW grid compliant tidal stream power station which directly supplies energy to the local electricity distribution network in Caithness.

The AR1500 turbine system was designed under contract by Lockheed Martin Corporation, tested and commissioned at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult's facility in Blyth and finally loaded out from the project's operations and maintenance base at Nigg Energy Park in Scotland.

The turbine and cable installation works were carried out by James Fisher Marine Services Ltd and followed the installation by GeoSea NV of the four foundation structures.

This is the first phase of the MeyGen project which has a total planned build out of almost 400MW.  Construction for the next 6MW phase is due to commence later this year.

Atlantis is the indirect majority owner of the MeyGen project through its 92% shareholding in Tidal Power Scotland Ltd, which owns 83.5% of MeyGen Ltd alongside Scottish Enterprise (16.5%). 

Phase 1A of the MeyGen project was funded through a combination of debt, equity and grants from Atlantis, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Crown Estate and the former Department for Energy and Climate Change.