MeyGen awards 'richly deserved' says Gills harbour director
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MAJOR awards won by the company behind the pioneering MeyGen tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth are "richly deserved."
So said Bill Mowat, a director of Gills Harbour Ltd, following the success of Simec Atlantis at the Scottish Green Energy Awards last week. The company won this year's national Champion of Renewables Award for its bid to create a sustainable tidal industry in Scotland along with its work on the innovative MeyGen initiative.
The individual award for Outstanding Contribution – sponsored by Highlands and Islands Enterprise – was won by Simec chief executive, Tim Cornelius, for the role he has played in the project and follows his success in the Europe-wide ViMaris 2020 award earlier in the year.
Mr Mowat said: "These awards are richly deserved. Without Tim's expertise and drive, it is certain that we would not be looking forward to having a tidal stream energy industry here in Caithness, with valuable jobs, creating opportunities in the coming decade, especially with the state-of-the art international computer data process centre being proposed for East Mey.
"It was fortunate for us that Tim had a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pilot's job with Wester's Subsea 7 back in 2008/9 when he learned from local engineers about the massive kinetic power contained in the fast-moving tidal streams of the Pentland Firth. He correctly forecast its electricity-generating capacity and believed he could contribute to the technology to harness it.
"Tim then set to in creating a suitable multi-million pound financial space that would let his team go on to design and manufacture the new-style 21st century marine turbines, not just talk and waffle about the Firth's potential, as some academics and public servants had been doing for decades".
John Neill, the chairman of Simec Atlantis, said the award to Mr Cornelius was "completely deserved" and recognises "the personal commitment and drive he has provided, not just to Atlantis but to renewables and Scotland."
Mr Neill is "extremely proud" of all the team and said the outstanding contribution award "recognises all the hard work they have put in to deliver time and time again".
The MeyGen project in the Inner Sound lies between Stroma and the Caithness coast and is about a mile from Gills harbour which is the base for some of the vessels involved in the project.
At present, the turbines produce six megawatts of power but that will rise to 86 in the next phase of the operation which includes plans to supply power to a data centre in what is expected to be a global first for marine energy.
When the MeyGen project is completed, it is due to generate 398 megawatts of electricity, which could power 175,000 homes.
The Scottish Green Energy Awards, which usually take place in Edinburgh, were held last Thursday night as a virtual online event for the first time.
More than 800 people tuned in to the broadcast-quality live awards show which saw winners in 13 categories receive recognition for their work in the sector, which employs 17,700 people.
The winners were selected by a panel of 12 judges from a short list of 46.
