Belgian dredging firm buys into ‘landmark’ tidal project

Belgian dredging and marine engineering firm DEME has bought a 2 per cent stake in the company behind a “landmark” tidal power project in Scotland.

It will also assist with the installation of the demonstration phase of the MeyGen project near John O’Groats.

DEME paid £2 million for the stake in Tidal Power Scotland to a subsidiary of Atlantis Resources. It has secured the right to buy a larger share of the company once phase 1C of MeyGen and the Sound of Islay project, which is also being developed by Tidal Power Scotland, have reached financial close.

Geosea, a subsidiary of DEME, will install all of the heavy foundation structures and some of the turbines for phase 1A of MeyGen using its jack-up vessel ‘Nepture’. The ship is expected to arrive at Nigg Energy Park in September to start work.

Four turbines 1.5MW turbines, one of which is being supplied by Atlantis, will be installed for this initial demonstration phase. The subsea cables which will connect the turbines to the grid have already been laid.  

Turbines with a combined capacity of 86MW will installed throughout the entirety of the first phase (1A, 1B and 1C). The project could eventually see up to 398MW of offshore tidal stream turbines installed in the Pentland Firth – the straight between the north coast of Scotland and Orkney – by the early 2020s, if phase 2 goes ahead.

Atlantis chief executive Tim Cornelius said: “We are on track to deliver first power to the grid from MeyGen Phase 1A later this year, which will be a landmark event for the global marine power industry.”

Last month Atlantis announced the MeyGen project will combine its output with that of a local windfarm.