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Atlantis Resources reveals strong performance of Scottish tidal turbines

Published: 07:27 23 Mar 2017 GMT

Atlantis Resources sinks a tidal turbine in the Pentland Firth, offshore Scotland
An upcoming programme will retrieve and redeploy turbine units

UK tidal power pioneer Atlantis Resources Ltd (LON:ARL) has told investors that its flagship MyGen project, offshore Scotland, continues to deliver sustainable, predictable power and it is initial phase has nearly generated some 400 megawatt hours of generation.

The output from MyGen Phase 1A was sufficient to power some 1,250 UK homes in the first three weeks of March, the company highlighted.

It added that the individual turbines have exceeded contractual guarantees and have put MyGen on track to achieve capacity factors significantly in excess of 40%.

"The initial operations phase of MeyGen Phase 1A has been a resounding success, and we hope that our achievements will now catalyse further tidal stream developments throughout Europe and worldwide to capitalise on this unique and untapped resource,” said David Taafe, Atlantis project director.

“Turbine production performance has been excellent, and the performance of the AR1500 turbine has been particularly impressive."

Atlantis is now planning to improve the operation, with three turbines (installed between November 2016 and January 2017) set to undergo brief onshore work for enhancements based on findings from the initial implementation.

Once the work is complete the turbines will be redeployed, in the first available tidal window.

Atlantis expects the upcoming programme will demonstrate further validation of its approach, which enables rapid retrieval and installation – a significant factor ensuring operating and maintenance costs are kept low.

It highlighted that the latest version of tidal turbine (the Atlantis AR1500 units) have ‘even greater’ focus on accessibility for maintenance, with a proprietary connection system, and those units are now operating operating autonomously at full output, exceeding all expectations.

Significantly, Atlantis says that its turbine installations have also proven that operations can be carried out successfully throughout the year and tidal power development is not restricted to a short window in the more climatically benign summer months.

Drew Blaxland, Atlantis director of turbines and engineering services, said: “Our initial data analysis shows that the AR1500 is producing at least 4% more energy than the guaranteed contractual baseline, and we anticipate that this will improve further as more data is captured. 

“This performance, coupled with our rapid and effective deployment system, puts the Atlantis system in a class of its own."

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