The world’s most powerful tidal turbine is successfully redeployed by Simec Atlantis Energy at its MeyGen site off Caithness
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The world’s most powerful tidal turbine has been restored to its usual location off the coast of Caithness and is generating clean energy once again.
The AR1500, 1.5MW turbine, has been redeployed by Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) Limited at its MeyGen site, the largest fully consented tidal stream energy site in the world.
The turbine had been out of the water for upgrade and maintenance work for at SAE's engineering facility at Nigg on the Cromarty Firth and is now able to resume the supply of predictable green electricity at the underwater location in the Pentland Firth Inner Sound, just off Gills Bay.
Its return will enable SAE to continue to work with government and industry partners to unlock the full potential of the world's largest tidal energy plant and deliver 400MW of renewable power.
With two of the four turbines now fully operational SAE is continuing work on the redeployment of the other turbines, which are continuing to undergo maintenance and repair at Nigg. These are expected to be back in the water within the next 12 months.
SAE chief executive Graham Reid commented: “I am extremely proud of the team and all the work that went in to ensure this successful re-deployment. This is another milestone that demonstrates that the industry is continuing to learn and develop, and I am delighted that our turbine is back where it belongs.
"Our ambition is to deliver more turbines in the water for the benefit of our business, our economy and the planet and we continue our work in collaboration with government and the industry to deliver this.”
Redeployment work was carried out by the 3900 tonne Norwegian ship Olympic Challenger, supported by the 20 metre catamaran Athenia, which is used for ROV camera position works at the MeyGen site.
